Truckers criticize Quebec’s choice of toll technology

Failure to synchronize systems is costly, but the route itself wins lots of praise

Trucking companies love Highway 30, but they’re not big fans of the toll technology Transport Quebec chose.

“It’s a shame,” said Marc Cadieux of the Association du camionnage du Québec.

“We asked them to harmonize toll systems.”

But Quebec opted for a system that forces truckers who want to benefit from the speed of electronic toll payment to use multiple transponders.

Truckers will need separate transponders if they plan to cross the highway 30 and 25 toll bridges in the Montreal region, and to pay tolls in the 14 U.S. states that share the EZPass system.

That means trucking companies “need many different accounts, you need multiple transponders in the trucks,” Cadieux said.

“There are men and women behind screens and phones administering all those and paying all the bills. It adds operational costs to the companies to have different systems.

“If there had been a univer- sal transponder, you could have reduced costs.”

Transport Quebec official Sandra Sultana said by the summer, drivers will be able to use the same transponder on both Highway 25’s Montreal/Laval bridge and Highway 30’s Salaberry-de-Valleyfield–Les Cèdres bridge.

But there are no short-term or medium-term plans to adapt Quebec tolls to the EZPass system, Sultana said.

SCOTT LINSTEAD/ THE GAZETTE Truckers say the road to the future would have been much easier to travel if Quebec had insisted on using the same technology for collecting tolls on highways.

NAVNEET PALL/ THE GAZETTE Highway 30 will have toll booths, but officials say they should not significantly delay travellers.