Some get free ride on 407
Company won’t say why it is offering the deal, or how many were invited
When Najma Khalil received a promotional email offering free access to Hwy. 407 during rush hour, she immediately thought it was a scam.
“I was surprised,” said the Hamilton resident, who has only used the highway twice since buying a transponder last summer. “It had my licence plate number on it, too, so it’s very specific.”
As it turns out, the promotion was real — and Khalil wasn’t the only lucky recipient. Select drivers across the GTA will be allowed to use the tolled highway for free during rush hour Monday through Friday between April 1 and June 30.
The offer, which the 407 ETR says was randomly distributed to an undisclosed number of customers with a “specific highway usage pattern,” will run between 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., excluding statutory holidays.
Company spokesperson Jeff Dean said the promotion was introduced to encourage more drivers to use the highway.
“Our team carefully studies traffic patterns along the highway to better understand where we have additional capacity,” he said in an emailed statement.
“407 ETR uses promotions to encourage use to reduce congestion on alternate routes. Every driver on Hwy. 407 ETR is one less vehicle on a congested alternate route.”
In 1999, former PC premier Mike Harris sold a 99-year lease to operate the 108-kilometre route for $3.1 billion in a deal that continues to be the subject of controversy decades later.
The privately owned section of the highway runs from the QEW in Burlington to Brock Road in Pickering. The remaining 43 km of Hwy. 407, from Brock east to Orono, is owned and operated by the Ontario government.
Sandford Borins, a professor emeritus of public management at the University of Toronto who co-wrote a book that closely examined the privatization of Hwy. 407, said there is nothing in the 407 ETR’s contract with the province that requires the company to mandate reducing congestion on other highways.
“The contract only requires them to keep their fees at a level that doesn’t choke off traffic,” he said. “And their responsibility is to their shareholders.”
Depending on the time of day, it can cost as much as $86 to drive 151 km from the QEW to Hwys. 35/115.
As the Star reported previously, the owner of the 407 faced a billion-dollar penalty when traffic during the pandemic fell below threshold levels that are part of its agreement with the province. The provincial government waived the penalty.
In February, the 407 ETR raised tolls for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, ending a four-year freeze. The company said the hike would result in a monthly increase of less than $5 for most commuters.
Traffic volumes on the 407 ETR have steadily climbed to near pre-pandemic levels. Trips on the highway were 13 per cent higher in 2023 compared to the year prior, while vehicle kilometres travelled increased by 15 per cent, according to figures released last month by the company.
It wasn’t clear to customers how the company determined which drivers would benefit from the free rush hour access travel, leading many internet sleuths to draw their own conclusions. The company would not elaborate on the selection criteria, nor say how many drivers received the offer.
Some commenters on Reddit, the popular discussion forum, suggested it was handed to customers who used the highway infrequently. Another person disputed that idea, saying they used the tolled highway four days a week and still received the offer.
Some speculated that geography may be a factor, but the Star spoke with multiple recipients who lived in areas ranging from Durham and Scarborough to Burlington and Hamilton.
The offer came at a convenient time for Khalil, who recently started commuting to Toronto more often for work.
“I wish it were longer,” she laughed, “but three months is still better than nothing.”
To Peter Miasek, president of Transport Action Ontario, the latest incentive to get more commuters on the 407 indicates that the company may be more flexible about changing its rates for additional vehicles.
“It shows 407 is open to innovation,” he said.
Miasek’s group and others like Environmental Defence have argued that subsidizing the toll for trucks on the 407 would alleviate congestion on Hwy. 401 and prove less expensive and more environmentally friendly than building the proposed 413 expressway, which, in many spots, would run parallel to the 407.
The New Democrats have made the same push at Queen’s Park, but hit a roadblock this month when Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives used their majority in the legislature to defeat a motion seeking to exempt commercial truckers from tolls.