(6)
Toll roads: What do they do with the money?
My latest experience with toll roads was a January trip to Florida, where I drove the Veterans Expressway/Suncoast Parkway for about 45 minutes north from Tampa.
There are four “toll plazas” along the 70-kilometre route: The total cost is $3.75 (U.S.). Each plaza adds a few minutes to the journey; the main inconvenience is making sure you have enough dollars and quarters to get through them all.
People grumble about the tolls on this and the Sunshine State’s other “pay-as-you-go” highways. But they hand over their cash — or swipe their Sun Passes — and move along.
Most U.S. states have similar systems, likewise accepted as a bothersome but acceptable fact of life. It’s all so smooth that advocates of more tolls on GTA highways cite the American experience as supporting evidence: if the payments are commonplace even in the tax-resisting Land of the Free, why are we so backward as to abhor them here?
Which makes sense, or doesn’t, depending on what the tolls are expected to accomplish. This is especially true when environmental concerns enter the picture.
Are the payments to raise money for governments — and if so, for what purpose? Are they to ease congestion by cutting traffic volumes or altering driving patterns? Is the aim to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions?
The first thing is that toll roads don’t usually reduce traffic. The GTA’s only example, Highway 407, is one type of evidence. It imposed payments from the outset, so comparisons can’t be made with the volume of traffic had driving on the road ever been free. But more and more drivers use it, despite regular toll increases.
As for what might happen if the fees were introduced on existing highways here, a recent study of California cities found the number of vehicles decreased by two or three per cent whenever tolls were increased, but soon resumed its upward trajectory. Traffic on the Veterans/Suncoast route has swelled as the cost has risen.
On the positive side, this means toll roads do generate cash. But for what? In Florida, and most of the U.S., the revenues are exclusively devoted to repaying the highway’s construction cost and then for maintenance and expansion.
The Suncoast highway is typical: it’s to be doubled from four to eight lanes, “to provide a better ride for everyone in the Tampa Bay region,” says Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, the agency that operates the 740-kilometre statewide network.
Our Highway 407 keeps growing, and increasing capacity generally encourages more driving.
I’m not predicting the Don Valley Parkway or Highway 427 would be expanded if tolls were imposed. But experience elsewhere suggests that the fees are tolerated only if those who pay them perceive a direct benefit. The politics would be far different if the cash went instead, as proposed here, into public transit.
Is the aim less pollution? Well, current tolls don’t distinguish between gas-guzzlers and fuel-sippers. Systems might be created to treat them differently on environmental grounds, just as fee breaks might be arranged for lower-income people in the name of equity. But that would add complexity and cost.
Are tolls meant to get people out of their cars? If so, are subways or other good alternatives available right away?
Are there better options? A recent analysis by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute in Australia concluded that congestion charges — fees imposed on every vehicle entering city centres — are more effective on almost every count.
Ultimately, the big problem is that we resist making hard choices about the kind of transportation system and urban design we want and how best to achieve it. Instead, we’re talking about clumsy payment schemes that tinker, with uncertain results, at the margins of behaviour while avoiding real change.
Video: Chevrolet Sonic a small car with a big car price
These four affordable, mid-size SUVs are worth a look
Rick Hendrick buys first Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Oshawa
