Milton commuters: would you be more inclined to pay road tolls if the funds went toward improvements to GO Transit rather than the TTC?

Jim Tovey’s article today in the Toronto Star’s Your City My City section had an interesting take on the concept of toll roads in Toronto.

I’ve always had a hunch that highways such as the Gardiner Expressway and 401 would ultimately end up as toll roads — at least for those in Toronto’s suburbs, better known as “the 905.” With so much traffic on Toronto’s highways coming from commuters not contributing taxes towards Canada’s largest city, it makes sense for the City of Toronto to want to try to claim a proverbial ‘pound of flesh’ from those who reside outside the fair city but are more than happy to make a living there.

We all know how supposedly underfunded the TTC is, and it’s always been assumed the funds from such tolls would go straight to the City of Toronto’s own transit system. I’m sure they do need the funding, but what do you think the odds are of the TTC expanding into the 905 anytime soon?

The answer: don’t hold your breath.

Mr. Tovey makes the case that it would be much easier for Toronto’s suburbanite commuters to accept road tolls if the proceeds went to Metrolinx, in an effort to make improvements (and maybe reduce costs, right Mr. Salmons?) to GO Transit — the other option for traveling into the city for 905 commuters.

What do you think? If the 401 and Gardiner were toll roads, would you continue driving into Toronto on those roads, would you start taking GO Transit if you aren’t already (assuming that’s a viable option) and does it matter into which coffers the toll road profits end up?

Here is Mr. Tovey’s post:

Would those of us in the 905 ante up $5 for the privilege of sitting on the Gardiner Expressway two hours a day? Particularly if the five bucks was going to expand the Toronto subway system? The short answer, if the poll was strictly 905, is absolutely not!

If the question was slightly different the answer may be the reverse.

I avoid driving into Toronto. The last time I was forced into daily trips for work was five winters ago while restoring a house in Rosedale. Toronto is not particularly truck friendly, parking is restricted and the Green Hornets seem to stake out residential construction sites.

The trip, from home in south east Mississauga was 1 to 1 ½ hours each way, gas was about $120 a week, parking tickets $25 to $50 weekly. Any fiscally responsible contractor has to build this cost into the contract, so in this situation the extra $10 daily would be born by a Toronto resident.

Therefore, if the funding from tolls goes to the Toronto Transit Commission, that’s fine. Personally, I chose to work closer to home. Most people who make this daily pilgrimage do not have the luxury of a choice.

As chair of the Legacy Foundation, I often go to Toronto for meetings and I always take the GO train.

Herein lies the problem for a 905er with the funding going to subway expansions.

The Long Branch GO station is a mile and a half from my house at Cawthra and Lakeshore. The GO parking lot is continually full and street parking is impossible, which leaves Mississauga Transit the only option.

Here is how the trip plays out. I dutifully wait for Mississauga Transit, until I get bored, which takes five minutes, and then I walk east towards Long Branch. The Mississauga Transit bus usually passes me when I am within 200 metres of the GO station. Clearly an improved subway system in Toronto is not going to alleviate the challenge of getting people in the 905 out of cars and into transit. Toll fees directed to that end will not engender buy-in from anyone outside of Toronto.

From a 905 perspective, if the funding were going to Metrolinx to harmonize public transportation on a regional basis, I believe there would be wide support for tolls.

Transit in the GTA has traditionally taken a fortress mentality, there have been pitched battles in the past over the use of bus stops, and municipal schedules rarely connect. The problem is not so much public transit in Toronto; the problem for us is getting to it. Metrolinx was established to solve this dilemma and they have an expansive plan, “The Big Move”, to resolve this disparity.

Use the toll money for regionally improved, frequent service and I might occasionally take the car downtown just so I can contribute my $5.

Comments on this story are moderated