Toronto Tolls.

[ZR]

Ok, so I get we have major projects to pay for and no money to do it but..................how many times do drivers in this city / province need to pay for the "right" to use our highway system? Yea, Toronto akins it to a user fee like using the TTC. Ok except as vehicle owners we already get repeatedly hooped left right and center via gas tax, lic plates and everything else they can dream up. With that in mind, how about raising TTC fares to a level that make sense for todays costs of running it? So if I'm suppose to be ok with a new $2.00 per trip user fee, how about raising fares the same? After all, my trip jumped $2 for the good of all of us, why should it fall solely on me, you and everyone else that drives?

[WTF]

well first off....I hate any new fee, tax, levy, premium etc....I think when politicians give up on draining the swamp and ignore the countless auditor general reports of complete and rampant fucking waste in the system, and instead ram a new tax up our ass....well....I think those politicians deserve to be turfed

having said that....I've ridden the TTC for about 40 years now....25 years with regular frequency, so I've paid somewhere in the $30,000 - $40,000 range to use the service (currently paying about $1,500/year)....not to mention I own a house and 3 cars so I'm taxed up the ass as well....and btw....riding the TTC is convenient, but it's no private limo ride....riding in a sardine can shouldn't carry a premium price

what I don't use is either the DVP or the Gardiner....OK maybe a half dozen times in the last 20ish years....so they won't be getting a nickle outta me on this one

my fear though....is every politician in the province is drooling right now....cause when the GTA pulls this shit off...there will be many more tolls to come

and the biggest laugh will be when we find out it costs like $1.8 Billion to outfit the highways with the tech to zap drivers with the toll....so based on the $160 million it's supposed to bring in annually....it will take probably 15 years to pay off the debt + interest....not to mention the cost of the new level of overpaid bureaucracy that will be implemented to oversee this anticipated clusterfuck in the making

so I predict these tolls won't subsidize new transit to any great degree....they'll just suck more money outta taxpayers pockets to employ more people into this ever-growing cesspool of government

when I'm out in the toys I've used the 407 countless times....and without a transponder, I get a bill for probably $20 each ride.....and I'm fine with paying that to drive on an ultra smooth, uncrowded, well designed highway in my nice pristine hotrod versus the completely shit alternative of the 401

the problem with this toll is you're paying to drive on bumpy, crowded, decaying, ill-designed shit

anyhoo...at least I get to keep my $2 this time

[ZR]

and the biggest laugh will be when we find out it costs like $1.8 Billion to outfit the highways with the tech to zap drivers with the toll....so based on the $160 million it's supposed to bring in annually....it will take probably 15 years to pay off the debt + interest....not to mention the cost of the new level of overpaid bureaucracy that will be implement to oversee this anticipated clusterfuck in the making

You can say with almost certainty they'll fudge it up from start to finish.

[tulowd]

Comment in the Toronto Sun last Saturday about the tolls and why they are a positive idea....written by two guys from the Fraser Institute. Below is my response to the editor, they impose a 250 word limit, so I had to chop my original rant into less than half:

Re: Sat. Dec. 10, 2016 “Toronto needs tolls to tame gridlock”

It's interesting how one dimensional and out of touch anything to do with progress is handled by the City of Toronto.

A toll is justified in the article by the offhanded suggestion that while we may have paid for the construction and maintenance of these roads, we should now pay for the pleasure of gridlock, in addition to the other pains that already accompany this.

Suggesting a significant number of commuters are able to choose other times, routes or methods of travel and will only be pushed into those by a toll is delusional at best, and is a punishment not a solution.

Our gridlock is exacerbated by countless new condos (without accompanying infrastructure expansion) and the unmentioned new taxes already being collected from new property owners. Because this is Toronto, where bicycle lanes in January are a priority, and 50 years of debating gridlock result in nothing.

So now another 407, without additional lanes, just the fees. The idea of tolls on an existing road without lane additions or additional traffic capacity after forcing more traffic on them is blackmail.

There is no political will to do what is needed to make the core accessible by car. Taking additional money from those who have no alternative method of travel is no different than taxing the air we breathe. Mayor Tory and the authors of this apology should be ashamed for supporting such a flagrant tax grab.

[RedSN]

I use the 407 daily, and the cost is part of my work commuting budget. It saves me a ton of time and frustration. No stop-and-go traffic, and in general fairly decent well behaved drivers. Take out the frustration factor and most drivers are pretty good.

Pay a toll to be stuck in stop-and-go traffic for an hour to get downtown? Nope.

[Biz]

Pay a toll to be stuck in stop-and-go traffic for an hour to get downtown? Nope.

How bad do you think the side streets around will now become by the toll avoiders?
I think this does more harm then good.

[JonsMustang]

Next will be street tolls.
How bad do you think the side streets around will now become by the toll avoiders?
I think this does more harm then good.