Tory confident he has council’s support on road tolls
Toronto city council begins meeting Tuesday where road tolls will dominate the first day.

Thestar.com
By BETSY POWELL
Dec. 12, 2016

Mayor John Tory said Monday he’s confident he has council’s support to ask the province for the authority to toll the city-owned and operated Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway.

“It’s time for some honesty. It’s time to get on with building,” Tory said standing at a podium on a snow-covered hill with the elevated portion of the Gardiner as a backdrop.

The days of council rejecting revenue tools to build transit “are over,” said Tory, overlooking council’s 2013 decision to slap a 1.6 per cent tax on top of annual property tax increases to pay for the controversial, one-stop, Bloor-Danforth subway extension to the Scarborough Town Centre.

Council begins its final meeting of 2016 on Tuesday.

Tory continued to brush aside Ontario Conservative Leader Patrick Brown, who is calling on the Liberal government to reject tolls. Premier Kathleen Wynne has suggested she won’t stand in the city’s way.

But Tory has softened his messaging from suggesting 905ers have been getting a free ride on Toronto roads, to asking those residents to share the cost of upkeep and transit expansion with people living in 416.

“We’re in this together,” Tory said. “905 residents concerned about making a modest contribution, will be among those who benefit most from improved traffic and improved transit.”

The mayor added he will ensure future toll revenue is dedicated to building transit and fighting congestion, even if it takes “electric fences” to protect the money.

TTC chair Josh Colle, who joined Tory at the outdoor podium, said asking drivers to pay tolls is similar to TTC riders paying a “modest fee to use public transit.” Tolling opponents who don’t offer alternative ways to pay for transit expansion and fighting gridlock are “scoring cheap political points,” the councillor said.

Critics say a suggested $2 toll, raising $200 million annually, won’t pay for the billions needed for other Toronto projects, such as building a downtown relief subway line.

Nevertheless, road tolling is a start, says Mahrokh Arefi, the Westbury, N.Y.-based chief executive officer of Emovis Technologies. The company operates and tolling systems the world, including Vancouver’s Port Mann and Golden Ears Bridges.

Cash-strapped governments across North America are grappling with how to pay infrastructure costs, which is why road tolls are becoming the norm, even on U.S. federal highways, she said.

“With (Donald) Trump’s election, it looks like it could open up more for private financing, and the user-pay concept (is) perhaps gaining more momentum.”

Arefi, a Canadian, was recently at Toronto city hall for an introductory meeting with transportation staff. The city is looking at various tolling scenarios, including pricing schemes and the viability of a toll system like that used on Hwy. 407.

When the 407 opened, with its use of cameras on gantries, it was “very innovative” but also very expensive to set up, Arefi said.

Today in Europe, some roads don’t use gantries but collect trucking tolls via transponders and satellite, bypassing the need for expensive infrastructure costs.

Eventually, all vehicles will be embedded with the technology and “everything is going to be communicated through satellite. You will have all the intelligence in your vehicle. You won’t need any other devices.”