The Highway 407 toll freeway passes under Jane St. on June 17, 2019.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Everyone likes to get something for free, including drivers who spend hours commuting. But that highlights the paradox of free roads: they aren’t, really, once all the broader costs are tallied.
The price of maintaining roads is spread among everyone, whether they drive or not. And motorists pay the cost of congestion in time and aggravation. This has never been particularly logical, but it makes even less sense as traffic woes mount and gas-tax revenues, which help fund some road costs, are set to decline over time.
It’s time for “toll” to stop being a dirty word in Canada. Not convinced? Forget about the effect of congestion on the economy and consider how it affects you personally.
A recent study conducted for lobby groups in the construction and road-building industry pegged the effect this year of congestion on the “daily lives and well-being” of Ontario drivers at nearly $44-billion. With 11 million licensed drivers in the province, that works out to $4,000 each.
There are problems inherent in cost-of-congestion studies. They usually compare existing travel times with some theoretical scenario with less traffic. However, with rare exceptions – Singapore and its extensive tolling network springs to mind – cities are congested. It’s a sign that they’re economically robust.
Still, congestion in many Canadian cities is increasing. There is value in limiting its psychological and time-wasting impact. So far, though, Canadian drivers have expected others to pick up the bill.
Consider those soft costs supposedly being borne by Ontario drivers. Do they feel their time and aggravation is worth thousands of dollars a year? One way to deduce that is looking at how much they’re willing to pay to get home faster. The answer for most of them, it’s clear, is nothing.
The tolled Highway 407 north of Toronto is relatively empty while the untolled Highway 401 that runs parallel to it is jammed. Instead of paying to drive on the 407, drivers clamour for the government to build a new, and untolled, Highway 413. (The province has also mused about a massive tunnel underneath the 401. Untolled, naturally.)
It’s a pan-Canadian tradition. When the Champlain Bridge in Montreal was replaced at a cost of more than $4.4-billion, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stressed that drivers wouldn’t be charged to use it. In British Columbia, the Pattullo Bridge is being rebuilt for $1.4-billion and won’t levy a toll.
This is misguided. Tolling reduces congestion by putting a value on how much a driver wants to make a trip at that time. This frees up road space for those who truly need it, and levels traffic flows through the day.
Less crowded roads also mean faster bus and streetcar service, in turn convincing more people not to drive.
Charging to drive also addresses a basic issue of fairness. Who should pay the full cost of driving? Drivers. But the gas tax doesn’t come close to covering the costs of road infrastructure.
Longer term, gas-tax revenues will go down as automobiles become more efficient and electric vehicles become more widespread. Several U.S. jurisdictions have reacted to falling gasoline consumption by switching to distance-based charges. Oregon, an early adopter, in 2015 started experimenting with a 2-cent-per-mile driving fee.
The convergence of worsening traffic and diminishing gas-tax revenues offers an opportunity. Gas taxes are a dumb tax in that they charge a set amount for gasoline no matter where and when it is burned. They are crude. Replacing that tax with a price on driving offers far more sophisticated possibilities.
Imagine a higher toll at the worst of rush hour. This would shift some trips to less busy times, freeing up capacity for those who can’t adjust their schedule. Or the cost could fluctuate based on congestion, encouraging drivers to take less crowded routes. In the most efficient use of resources, the 401 and 407 highways would be equally busy.
Even though road-pricing works, the preference among Canadian drivers has been that someone else should pay. Motorists are quite willing to have governments spend vast amounts of money on road-expanding projects that won’t end up shortening their commute time.
Instead, they should accept a toll to help their own cause. It could get them home more quickly – and in a better mood.