Vancouver is considering traffic congestion tolls—should Canada follow suit?

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Is the city of Vancouver getting ready to charge drivers for using the roads? Should Toronto be getting ready to have a similar discussion (again)?

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Not all that long ago, we simply called them “toll roads.” Use that road, pay this toll. The 407 ETR, in all its bumbled, political fiasco of an existence, was Canada’s best-known example . The idea has evolved now, as municipalities all over the globe seek ways to not just fund new superhighways, but to fight congestion in our urban cores. Traffic may have been the primary driver for both sorts of toll roads at first, but the subject now includes the direct consequences to our climate. 

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Vancouver is considering traffic congestion tolls—should Canada follow suit? Back to video

“Mobility pricing” is the increasingly more common moniker alluding to that motivation, and encompasses so much more than the simple idea of a toll. It’s not just a new term for an old discussion. As we finally move in a direction of considering every aspect of how we get from here to there, it’s not just about cars. It’s about public transportation; greenhouse gas emissions; older, more polluting vehicles; carpooling; and my right to cleaner air and less congestion trumping your right to drive anything you want, anywhere you want, at any time you want. 

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Vancouver has the worst traffic in Canada (yes, Toronto, it could be worse, believe it or not) and according to a recent National Observer report , “by 2040, a whopping one million more people are projected to move to Metro Vancouver, with an expected increase of 600,000 vehicles on the roads.” For those who don’t live there, I don’t know if you’ve ever (tried) to drive in downtown Vancouver, but it’s pretty much a nightmare. I was there for work one time and was told we would be setting aside over two hours for the trek to the airport — about a 30-kilometre jaunt in the morning rush hour. It was warranted. 

Vancouver’s tight geographical formation and network of bridges to gain access to various parts of the city make it a bottleneck of vehicles at most times. As years have passed, the council now faces not just growing congestion, but also the need to meet emissions targets. Currently, emissions from transportation make up a third of that province’s pollution, and these past few months have thrown another important challenge into full play: the impact of climate change on the infrastructure. By the time you’re seeing heatwaves hot enough to melt roads, you have to find ways to protect that infrastructure.

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If implemented, Vancouver would be the first North American city to see tolls applied to its roads. The idea itself has already been put into action in places like London, England since 2009, which now has one of the largest “ congestion zones “ in the world, as well as the toughest rules. If you drive in this zone between 7:00 am and 10:00 pm any day of the year save Christmas, you pay £15 (CAD$26) each time. 

In 2019, they stepped up the program to include an Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) that operates around the clock except for Christmas day.  “Motorists who drive into the zone in a vehicle that does not meet the new emission standard (petrol vehicles that do not meet Euro 4 standards and diesel vehicles that do not meet Euro 6) will have to pay a daily charge.” The tolls are £12.50 (CAD$22) per car, van or motorcycle; and £100 (CAD$176) for trucks and buses. The ULEZ zone is the same as the congestion zone, and those charges are in addition to the congestion zone charges. They note that most vehicles built since 2006 can meet the requirements of the ULEZ (there’s a handy checker for residents ). An additional Low Emission Zone (LEZ) is aiming to get the most-diesel-polluting trucks off the road. There were some suspensions during the pandemic, but the charges are getting back to normal.

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London is playing hardball. There are exemptions , for example, for fully electric vehicles (though they will be phased out in 2025); those with blue badges (medical exemption); residents within the zone; and emergency vehicles among others.  

Singapore has done this for years; Stockholm is famous for it. Milan has had it for a decade. Paris is set to stop vehicles passing through that city by 2022. Funds from all these ventures go into transit and infrastructure that better support citizens walking and cycling, delivering additional benefits. Businesses and drivers may resist, but ultimately, the current has to change to battle congestion and emissions.

Building more roads is not the answer, as induced demand takes over. “When substantial new road capacity is built, people will change their behavior—perhaps moving to a community further away from employment, taking advantage of the temporary excess road capacity. Over a few years, that excess disappears, and the new, bigger roads are just as congested as before—maybe decades in advance of when traffic studies had predicted the capacity would be exhausted,” as this paper explains . Give us more roads, we’ll simply fill them up with more cars.

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These systems cost a lot to administer, at least initially. London has an issue with collecting, but technology is improving on all fronts. Even public opinion is starting to turn. A TransLink study from 2018 showed a split in Vancouverites’ appetite for these measures: 34 per cent were in support, 34 per cent were opposed, but 32 per cent were undecided. I think we’ll see these numbers start shifting as the projected congestion and emissions threaten to climb. 

Maybe all these competing wants will ultimately be steamrolled by the very real needs of an endangered planet. Choices have consequences, and ultimately, choosing to drive your car to the detriment of everything else should have a cost.