The story may have been that Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts turned down the entreaties to run for the Liberal leadership. But the real news from Watts is this.
Having said that she will vote against the TransLink proposal to fund the Evergreen Line with property tax prior to discussing other funding options with Province, Watts said:
We need to look at road pricing. We need to look at fair tolling. We need to look at carbon tax. There’s all sorts of options to come back with a sustainable funding source.
What jumped out for me was “fair tolling.” I presume that political leadership South of the Fraser will be trying to position the prospect of another bridge toll – this time on a replacement for the Pattullo Bridge – as inherently unfair. Which it is.
“There’s already a toll on the Golden Ears” said Watts. “There’s going to be tolls on the Port Mann and there’s going to be tolls on the new Pattullo Bridge.”
In other words, the only tolled bridges in the Lower Mainland will all connect with Surrey and Langley. Even West Vancouver, which turned down a widened Lions Gate Bridge if it required a toll, can see that this isn’t defensible. But will they and the rest of Metro then accept a regional tolling system, with charges on every bridge, new or old, as a primary funding source for TransLink if it was done all at once, at the time a new Pattullo Bridge was given the go-ahead?
We’ll soon see. Expect to hear “Fair Tolling” a lot in the new year.
I’ve often wondered if there would ever be an ability to put a 25 cent toll on every bridge for every car, to a maximum of a dollar a day for regular commuters and maybe 3 dollars per day for commercial vehicles.
Maybe you just charge during peak hours, or maybe it is just the cost of driving. Few people would complain about 25 cents, but I can imagine that it would add up across the region over time.
Possibly even put that money into an endowment fund for ongoing maintenance and expansion of the transportation system…
The simple answer is “no”. The more established, inner municipalities with higher real estate values and higher income residents will not accept the re-tolling of older structures such as First or Second Narrows. And Vancouver is sure as Hell not going to allow tolls to be placed on the Cambie, Granville, or Burrard Bridges.
A regional tolling system really is the only way forward. Obviously the public, given the choice, is not going to choose to pay tolls. This prospect will need some real leadership from both civic and provincial officials. If Robertson, Corrigan and Brodie stated their support for regional tolling, that would go a long way to getting the Province and the rest of the municipalities on board. I can see Robertson doing it, but I think the other two would be too scared (and too worried about explaining themselves to their constituents) to come out in support early. Maybe the new shake up at the Provincial level will spark some new life into the stagnant policies surrounding tolling in Metro Vancouver.