The Star’s view
New toll lanes could change Ontarians’ attitudes on road pricing.
Critics may call them a cash grab, but new toll lanes announced for the Queen Elizabeth Way are no such thing for the simple reason that they don’t generate much money.
With a maximum of 1,000 eligible drivers paying $60 a month for the privilege of travelling solo on high-occupancy vehicle lanes, the province can expect to earn just $720,000 over the course of a year. That’s less than the price of an average Toronto home.
Compared to other government revenue tools, this is a set of tweezers.
Putting high-occupancy toll lanes on the QEW starting Sept. 15, and letting a limited number of drivers escape the regular highway for a fee, should result in fewer cars jamming rush-hour routes. But the primary benefit of these new HOT lanes — the first in Canada — might well be psychological.
The concept of adding road tolls to an existing Ontario thoroughfare will no longer be the stuff of academic papers, transit reports, government studies and newspaper editorials. Motorists experiencing this practical, if modest, example of such tolling at work might grow to consider other “road pricing” less of an anathema.
In announcing HOT lanes on the QEW, between Trafalgar Rd. in Oakville and Guelph Line in Burlington, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca descried the pilot project as “the first step of Ontario’s plan to implement HOT lanes throughout the region.”
Another step is to happen in five years, with the opening of a 15.5-kilometre stretch of HOT lanes on Hwy. 427, complete with an electronic collection system. But the more significant, long-range purpose in all this should be to prepare the public for even broader tolling.
People need to understand that road space is a valuable resource. Giving it away for free, regardless of time of day or traffic volume, only encourages overuse. Introducing tolls to existing routes is an effective way of easing gridlock by setting a reasonable price for using precious highway space. And newly announced HOT lanes are a tangible manifestation of this concept.
The system launched on the QEW this fall won’t immediately involve any special technology, such as cameras, GPS or transponders. Queen’s Park has issued a formal request for information on such systems, seeking to buy the optimum tolling technology.
Until that’s in place, the only solo motorists allowed to legally use new HOT lanes will be those whose cars display a special permit. And only 1,000 such permits will be made available at any given time. Each will cost $180 and will be valid for three months (or $60 a month).
Motorists intent on driving solo in QEW car pool lanes will need to apply for a permit in the first three weeks of August. Expecting demand to outstrip supply, the province plans to conduct a draw awarding permits to 1,000 drivers on a random basis.
It all seems rather convoluted but, as reported by the Star’s Tess Kalinowski, the system is based on a program in Utah. That state embarked on a permit-based system, charging $50 a month, in 2006 and successfully moved to electronic tolling four years later.
The QEW pilot program is to run for two to four years, but every effort should be made to proceed sooner rather than later. That’s especially the case given that HOT lanes were promised as far back as the 2013 provincial budget.
There’s an urgent need to ease chronic gridlock clogging movement throughout the Greater Toronto Area. Installing HOT lanes on the QEW, and other Ontario thoroughfares, won’t substantially change that. But, looking further down the highway, broader acceptance of tolling and more widely applied road pricing could make a big difference in altering driving patterns.
That’s what’s truly hot about Ontario’s new toll lanes.
Ontario’s new high-occupancy toll lanes could change attitudes on road pricing