Panel sees public appetite to pay for change
Road tolls, regional sales tax, gas tax should all be on the table to pay for alternatives to gridlock, participants say
July 16, 2008
Daniel Girard
Urban Affairs Reporter
Already feeling the sting of soaring gasoline prices, GTA residents may someday be facing the prospect of digging deep for everything from road tolls and a regional sales tax to parking at the mall or their suburban office lot.
And, while clearly "very controversial," the consensus at a forum on regional transit infrastructure today was that such initiatives are something politicians and the public must at least be ready to ponder in an effort to ease gridlock.
"These are the kinds of things that are on the menu that we are going to have to seriously talk about," said Paul Bedford, former chief planner of the City of Toronto and current board member of Metrolinx, the regional transit planning body.
While stressing that he was not talking on behalf of Metrolinx, Bedford nonetheless told 150 people at The National Club on Bay St. that he was "setting the table" for public discussion this fall after the agency releases its plan for regional transit projects and how to pay for them.
In April, Metrolinx detailed a series of car-reduction scenarios in the latest stage of its development of a regional transportation plan. The most ambitious of them would cost $90 billion over 25 years.
Queen's Park has pledged $11.5 billion for about 50 regional projects to expand subway, streetcar, light rail and bus services by 2020.
Calling that commitment "just a start," Bedford said the $90 billion is not only affordable, it's necessary.
"If we don't do this, we will be in very bad shape," he said.
Noting the gap between need and money to pay for it, Bedford called for "intelligent public dialogue" on a host of financing options. They include a 10 cents per kilometre toll on provincial and municipal expressways in the GTA such as Highway 401 or the Don Valley Parkway, $1 each weekday on non-residential parking spaces, a 20-cent per litre gas tax, a 1 per cent regional sales tax and more government subsidies.
Such initiatives, which Bedford explained could each net about $1 billion a year, would no doubt ignite a vigorous debate. Any talk of tolls or taxes on gasoline or retail sales always raises the ire of drivers and the political sensitivies of elected officials.
Both Premier Dalton McGuinty and Transportation Minister Jim Bradley said in February they didn't support tolls on expressways and 400-series highways in the GTA after a blue-ribbon panel on Toronto finances said such a move could raise $700 million to improve transit.
Bedford admitted there is potential for "a public revolt," if and when these suggestions come forward, because "have you ever met people who want to pay more tax?"
"Probably not," he said. "But, the fact is, we're going to have to bite that bullet."
Toronto Mayor David Miller, who commissioned that panel, has said he thinks the toll concept merits "very serious consideration."
And two of his city council colleagues echoed those sentiments at today's forum, organized by Global Public Affairs.
TTC chair Adam Giambrone said "there is an appetite to consider some of those" taxes and fees but it's "unlikely" that they would be used to come up with all of the money needed to build, operate and maintain new public transit projects. People may be willing to pay more but have to see results, he added.
"We should be thinking big, very bold, out there on a 30-40-year plan and then we need nice, bite-sized chunks that we could actually see that it's happening and build public confidence. That keeps momentum going."
Councillor Karen Stintz said she senses a willingness of voters to discuss these initiatives because "people are wrapping their head around that they're going to have to fund the system." But, she said, there's too much focus on "making driving less attractive than making the better way more attractive."
Stintz likes the idea, advanced by others, of using the prospect of future tolling revenues to borrow money to improve transit now, so people see it as an alternative.
"What we need to demonstrate is value for the investment," she said. "Right now, people are still operating on a time-value model where it makes more sense for them to drive."
Getting Personal
Cost per month of tolls or road pricing and various other typical expenses.
Road Pricing: Toronto-Oakville; 10 cents/ km; 60 km. per day = $120
Cable TV: $40-$50
Cell Phone: $50-$60
GO Train: Oakville to Union Station; 60 km per day = $195
TTC Metropass: $109
Source: Paul Bedford, former City of Toronto chief planner and current Metrolinx board member.
