Toronto Road Tolls
We have been hearing about an increase in parking taxes and now there is a lot of discussion around introducing road tolls.
Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion suggests the new revenue source is necessary to fund the expansion in public transit across GTA. This is a solution to partially address structural funding shortfall.
We have a lot to learn from other cities that have implemented such solution. For instance, congestion fees were introduced in Central London, U.K. On February 17, 2003 where motorists pay $13 a day to enter or travel within the city zone between 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.
The immediate effect on London traffic was a decrease of approx. 25% in normal traffic or 120,000 vehicles. A study done after 6 months showed the reduction was only 60,000 per day of which, 50-60% had switched over to public transfer, 20-30% avoided travelling into city, 15-25% switched over to car share, and the remainder switched to motorbikes and bicycles.
About 100,000 penalty fines were issued each month and 2,000 contested. There was an increase in the number of plate cloning, where non-payment fines were sent to the wrong person. Greenhouse gases fell; nitrogen oxide by 17% and carbon dioxide by 20% between 2003-06.
The Congestion charges has also been introduced in a number of other cities around the world including Singapore, Rome, Stockholm, Milan. In many cases the revenue was not as high as it was expected and close to half the revenue went towards operations. So before anything is introduced in Toronto we need to ensure the public transport network has sufficient spare capacity to cater for travelers deterred from using their cars. We also need to have a provisions to limit taxes in any legislation for new tolls road and Toronto drivers need to be treated equally. There is no good reason for Toronto residents alone to be paying $60 more for license fees each year.
Although congestion taxes are good in principal, it is unlikely the funds will be used efficiently by the city. It will likely increase our government size and salaries. I am afraid it will not be long before we start hearing more about emission based taxes based on vehicle engine sizes.
