It’s time for Toronto to introduce congestion pricing. Slapping down more asphalt is a proven useless response to an ever-increasing number of vehicles; induced demand is real and self-evident to watch play out, if also the thing most recklessly ignored by politicians and planners. With the cost of living at an all-time high, we are simply allotting too much real estate — without reflective cost — to vehicles. Ontario’s premier has stated flatly he will never allow tolled roads in Ontario outside of the existing 407.
We need to stop caving to the best-funded voices and realize long-term change has to be planned for, funded, and supported. Doesn’t anyone give a damn what happens after their time in office? Legacy used to mean something.
The Canadian Centre of Economic Alliance (CANCEA) recently reported thatcongestion cost Ontario nearly $13 billion in direct economic opportunities in 2024; factor in the more indirect social costs (long commutes contributing to stress, lowered life satisfaction, loss of time for family and leisure) and that number soars another nearly $47 billion. We are in deep traffic trouble, and it’s only going to get worse. We need extraordinary cycling networks and reliable public transport, but we also need something else.
The Toronto Region Board of Trade struck a Congestion Task Force and Governing Council last year to bring representatives from all sectors to the table. A few weeks ago, they published a report ahead of their anticipated full response in February. The title: “Congestion pricing: a targeted solution, not a silver bullet” feels like a Ghost of Christmas Future for the report to come.
“Congestion pricing puts a cost on road use during peak demand and helps manage finite road capacity, transforming roads from a “free” public resource into one that reflects their true value.” It doesn’t have to be the entire solution, but it’s very obviously part of a successful one. Municipalities that continually put resources for individual cars above the needs of all their citizens are failing those citizens. Premier Ford needs to revisit his decision.
New York City has taken a few whacks at the congestion pricing piñata, with that city set to roll out a revised pricing menu yesterday, depending on last-minute court battles from New Jersey. The incoming president has said he will kill such initiatives, as do many politicians who get ferried door-to-door like a kid with a Disney FastPass. Congestion pricing plans can take several forms, but whether instituted to tackle traffic congestion, reduce emissions, or encourage transit use, studies show significant overlap between these objectives. The result is bigger than the sum of its parts.
Residents of Stockholm, Sweden, got to test drive the idea back in 2006 before becoming overwhelmingly convinced of the benefits. The director of the Swedish Transport Administration told CBC News: ““We had something like maybe 60, 70 per cent of public opinion against congestion pricing for all the usual reasons: it will never work, it’s unfair, car drivers have to drive…But then it was introduced, and even to my surprise, I must say, it worked even better than we thought.”
Ontario’s tolled highway 407, that notorious privatization fumble, announced raised rates for 2025. This is hardly new, but their introduction of vehicle classifications is. “Motorcycles will pay less than sedans and SUVs; while larger trucks, vans, and SUVs towing trailers will pay more.” We need to start charging people by the vehicles they drive and increase that charge on vehicles that are larger and heavier. We pay by portion on nearly everything else in our lives, from baggage on airplanes to storage units to supersized fries; it only makes sense to pay a fair portion for what you choose to drive. I not only want Toronto to institute congestion pricing at peak times, I want people who drive larger vehicles to pay more.
A March 2024 study of 11 OECD member countries examines the progress being made to reduce congestion and pollution through various congestion pricing systems in wealthy cities, including Milan, London, Stockholm, Paris, Lisbon, Melbourne, Houston, Atlanta, and Miami. It quite eloquently outlines the same problem Toronto is facing: “Congestion pricing often suffers from low public and political acceptability due to its prescriptiveness making it difficult for proposed congestion pricing systems to pass from the stage of a policy proposal to an implemented program. This is because pricing systems infringe on the public’s perceived “right to drive”. However, increasing road capacity increases travel demand, leading to a vicious cycle [induced demand!] resulting in overburdened urban infrastructure. The public more accurately has a right to accessible and affordable transportation, of which driving is one of several options.”
How much consulting will it take before we simply do the right thing?
Behaviour can change. Consider the airport. The proper waiting area is a very nearby cell phone lot to wait for your arrival to call you. It’s an easy, elegant, free solution. For those who live in the city, there is excellent public transport to and from the airport. This is what people do instead:
The Park and Pray: pull up to the Arrivals curb and camp out until you get kicked out. You will get kicked out. Some do the wait-at-Departures-instead trick. You get more grace time, but they’ll still kick you out.
The Slow Loop: slow, patient drive-bys in the train of other vehicles doing the same thing, clogging those vehicles who are actually trying to leave by plugging them in with people who desperately hope this loop will be the last. Pollute as you go.
The Herd Cuddle: tuck your car into the long lines of fellow waiters illegally (and often dangerously) lining the highways leading into the airport. This has been happening for years, and everybody plays the old Bear and Hiker game: you only have to be out of there faster than the person behind you when they come to kick you out. Vehicles shelter — and pollute — together, willing to roll the dice on just how many will get ticketed.
In 2018, the airport’s private parking service, Indigo, announced they’d be mailing illegal parkers a $75 ticket; little changed. A few months ago, I noticed signs warning that the most abused areas are now covered in cameras. Haven’t seen anyone parked on the shoulders in four visits. People are quite capable of change.
There are many knowledgeable people on the Toronto Board of Trade’s Congestion Task Force. Let’s hope they are direct in explaining what it will take to tackle the absolutely unacceptable state of the GTA’s roadways, and let’s hope those tasked to implement it have the spine to do so.
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