Montrealers would support road tolls
A survey has found that a majority of Montrealers would be OK with paying road tolls if it meant better roads, bridges and transit – basically, shorter commute times for everybody.
Turns out the government has pondered returning tolls to the Jacques-Cartier bridge, which is holding up over time but nonetheless needs expensive maintenance work.
Bill Binns 10:27 on 2011/11/21 Permalink
“IF it meant better roads, bridges and transit”. That is a pretty big “if” considering that Montrealers are probably buying the most heavily taxed gas in North America for the privilege of driving on crumbling roads while dodging falling concrete and collapsing bridges and tunnels.
A likely outcome of adding tollbooths will be that the construction of the toll equipment itself will eat up the first five years of tolls.
Kate 11:06 on 2011/11/21 Permalink
I hadn’t thought about that – the cost of modern tollbooths, designing them, installing them, hoo boy. You may be right.
jeather 12:13 on 2011/11/21 Permalink
So all the toll money goes to cover maintenance — then road maintenance will just lose all other funding, and we’ll be no better off. If the tolls are added to current money, then fine — even if it takes 5 years to make back the costs of installing them — but they won’t be, and we’ll all be worse off.
William 13:01 on 2011/11/21 Permalink
If installing tolls made no economic sense, then it wouldn’t be done. As long as a proven and off-the-shelf system like “EZ-Pass” was used, then the costs should not be outrageous (why the new toll bridge isn’t EZ-Pass is beyond me). Moreover, let’s not forget that in addititon to being a good way of raising money from service users, tolls are also useful for changing behaviour.
Bert 13:10 on 2011/11/21 Permalink
William, the toll collection on the bridge on the A25 IS transponder based with a camera backup. EZ-Pass is a brand name. However, with the possible proliferation of disjointed toll roads, I wonder if anyone will see the vision to make them all compatible so that one transponder can be used. Otherwise this will be the result… http://cdn.ubergizmo.com/photos/2010/7/26-gps.jpg
That said, Mayor T. will probably just say that all roads should be tolled But to appease everyone there will be one transponder per arrondissement.
If my commute were better (faster, more fluid, better ride) I could be convinced of supporting tolls. But if the money is just goes in to general coffers, then forget it.
ant6n 14:55 on 2011/11/21 Permalink
To implement a congestion charge in Stockholm, they simply have cameras recognizing license plates. These are stationed at all points where you can drive into the congestion area (downtown). At the end of the month, they count how often every license plate has crossed into the congestion area, sum up the cost, look up the address for the license plate, and send a bill to the car owner.
No transponder needed, no toll-booths, and the administrative overhead is not all that big.
William 16:05 on 2011/11/21 Permalink
Bert, despite “correcting” it, you pretty much entirely missed the point of my comment, lol. A multiplication of systems/operators in Sydney meant that the whole system had to have an expensive do-over a few years after it was launched. We fortunately already have a standard in this corner of North America, and it’s called EZ-Pass.
Bert 20:54 on 2011/11/21 Permalink
But William, we are a distinct society. We have our own blood collection agency, our ows harmonized sales tax, our own immigration system…. Why stop now?
The last thing we didn’t screw up was putting rubber wheels on the Metro.
Chris 09:13 on 2011/11/22 Permalink
Which is why increasing the gas tax is a better idea than tolls. 1) no setup, just change a number in the computers 2) it’s more fair, being proportional to the distance you drive (& therefore pollution) instead of the route you take. Why should a short drive from the Shore over the bridge be tolled, when a long drive from the West Island not be?
William 16:53 on 2011/11/22 Permalink
Chris, a tax on petrol is not fair at all. People who choose to use the roads at the most congested times of day – that is to say, the most valuable time of day – pay just as much as people who make sacrifices and travel off peak. I totally agree however that congestion tolling for all suburbs is a great idea.