Metro putting price on congestion
Policies being looked at could include charging drivers by distance or at certain locations
Charging drivers for each kilometre they drive and tolling congestion points are the two primary types of mobility pricing an independent commission is considering for Metro Vancouver.
The two policy approaches are outlined in a report being released on Tuesday by the mobility pricing independent commission, a group of 14 people from across the region that is tasked with making recommendations to TransLink’s Mayors’ Council and board of directors about transportation pricing.
The commission launched its public engagement and research project in October. Since then, it has consulted with stakeholders, from the provincial government to First Nations, and more than 6,000 residents.
“I think we’re quite pleased in the short period of time that we had this open that we got as many people interested in this topic as possible,” said commission chair Allan Seckel.
The commission looked at nearly a dozen options for decongestion charging that are meant to improve traffic flow around Metro Vancouver.
Some were discarded because they were less effective at reducing congestion, while others (mandatory corridor charges, a flat distance-based charge and a vehicle levy) were put aside to consider later because they didn’t address all of the commission’s objectives.
Congestion point pricing involves charging people when they pass a certain point or location, such as a busy stretch of road, a bridge or a tunnel.
Cordon charges, also known as “toll rings,” are a type of congestion point charge that would see roads leading into a certain area tolled to reduce congestion in the city. Stockholm has this kind of congestion charging.
The second option is distance-based charges that vary by time and location, which means drivers would be charged for each kilometre they drive, but the amount would vary depending on where they go and at what time.
This kind of charge was least popular with stakeholders and members of the public, who said it was “complex and costly,” but Seckel said the commission felt it needed to explore the option.
“I don’t think we could do a proper report on mobility pricing without considering that we have to at least have considered it,” he said. “It’s got a lot of theoretical advantages and practical disadvantages.”
The commission report states that if a new mobility pricing scheme is recommended for the region, it could result in changes to the existing fuel tax and the price of public and private paid parking, but it is unclear at this point how that would look.
New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Coté, who is a member of the Mayors’ Council mobility pricing steering committee, said he believes the commission has done a good job of delving into the “difficult and challenging” issue of mobility pricing thus far.
When it comes to the policy approaches, Coté said congestion point and distance-based charges are “very reasonable” options.
“I think those two points do the best out of the variety of options that the commission looked into that respond to the three major objectives the council put forward,” said Coté. “I think a lot more work is going to need to be done in the next phase to dig deep into what we mean by congestion point charge or distance-based charge.”
Gordon Price, a fellow with the Simon Fraser University Centre for Dialogue and former director of the school’s City Program, said the discussion needs to be had, but it will be difficult to get politicians on board — particularly at the provincial level.
“The province does this repeatedly — they want to be able to ultimately make critical decisions about transportation in the region, but they don’t want to pay the political cost,” he said. “There’s a huge social and political impediment to doing this and any city who gets through it would be a model to the world.”