Roads: GTA West Corridor—Highway 413

[just east of the creek]

Reading Andrew Clark of the Globe and Mail remotely from a location distant from the GTA was a joy today as he neatly advocated for road tolls to be widespread on high capacity, and over capacity 400 series highway - so the 401/400/427/410/413 (if they ever build it). This is a measure that is long overdue. Tolls can be easy to administer, can make a significant offset to maintenance and building costs, can add to the pool of money being directed to regional transit, and can help people make better decisions about how they are going to commute (to work mainly), where they might live, who they may want to work for etc etc

It’s time. I would rather pay the direct tax of a road toll, rather than the additional general taxes tacked on by Dougie and his dudes and mismanaged by the ever expanding snow job of the provincial bureaucracy.

 

[Deadpool X]

I prefer having tolls but not at the same rates as 407 or even 407 East. Also, the toll price should be dynamic based on traffic patterns. For the times when the traffic is free flowing, there should not be any toll. This will incentivize people to either change their driving pattern or move to transit, both of which are good.

I would also suggest downtown congestion pricing.

 

[afransen]

Reading Andrew Clark of the Globe and Mail remotely from a location distant from the GTA was a joy today as he neatly advocated for road tolls to be widespread on high capacity, and over capacity 400 series highway - so the 401/400/427/410/413 (if they ever build it). This is a measure that is long overdue. Tolls can be easy to administer, can make a significant offset to maintenance and building costs, can add to the pool of money being directed to regional transit, and can help people make better decisions about how they are going to commute (to work mainly), where they might live, who they may want to work for etc etc

It’s time. I would rather pay the direct tax of a road toll, rather than the additional general taxes tacked on by Dougie and his dudes and mismanaged by the ever expanding snow job of the provincial bureaucracy.

This piece?

Driving in America is better because of road tolls

Canada has some of the worst traffic in the world and yet political parties at all levels and in virtually every province oppose tolls

www.theglobeandmail.com

We need to bypass the people who insist that tolls can only be implemented when every single person has a high quality transit based alternative to their trip. That day will never come. We need tolls anyway. It's like saying we shouldn't charge for electricity or water until every single person has a way of making their own independently of the utility system.

 

[afransen]

I prefer having tolls but not at the same rates as 407 or even 407 East. Also, the toll price should be dynamic based on traffic patterns. For the times when the traffic is free flowing, there should not be any toll. This will incentivize people to either change their driving pattern or move to transit, both of which are good.

I would also suggest downtown congestion pricing.

Both are sensible suggestions.

I wonder if, once Advance Driver Assistance Systems/vehicular autonomy becomes more widespread if we will see a decline in collisions on highways, and their resulting congestion. It really should happen, but it will be hard to stop cowboy drivers from engaging in reckless maneuvers unless ADAS systems are mandated to be used. ADAS already works quite well on highways and I suspect if you cut down on unnecessary lane changes traffic would flow much better.

 

[Wm Perkins Bull]

I prefer having tolls but not at the same rates as 407 or even 407 East. Also, the toll price should be dynamic based on traffic patterns. For the times when the traffic is free flowing, there should not be any toll. This will incentivize people to either change their driving pattern or move to transit, both of which are good.

I would also suggest downtown congestion pricing.

The pent up demand for the 401 is enormous, the required toll to bring the most congested sections up to an average of 50 km/h in rush hour would be significant, and likely reach Highway 407 East (non-ETR) pricing.

 

[just east of the creek]

I prefer having tolls but not at the same rates as 407 or even 407 East. Also, the toll price should be dynamic based on traffic patterns. For the times when the traffic is free flowing, there should not be any toll. This will incentivize people to either change their driving pattern or move to transit, both of which are good.

I would also suggest downtown congestion pricing.

I have no issues with any of these suggestions and fully agree with congestion charging.