Greater Vancouver politicians are starting to unite behind a serious push to toll all of the region’s main bridges and water crossings.

The idea of regional tolling, long called for in plans but unimplemented, has surfaced at the top of a list of revisions the Greater Vancouver Regional District will ask the province to make to its planned $3-billion Gateway project.

“We need to make sure everyone pays for this,” said White Rock Mayor Judy Forster.

“The time has come,” said North Vancouver City Mayor Darrell Mussatto. “The status quo won’t work. Tolling one bridge and not another is going to create a nightmare.”

The debate came Friday at the GVRD’s land use and transportation committee meeting, where directors sought to craft a regional consensus response to Gateway.

Fears that a tolled Port Mann bridge will leave motorists clogging the untolled Pattullo Bridge is one of the key reasons road pricing has risen to the fore.

Another is the sense that it is unfair to make only residents who need to use the Port Mann or Golden Ears bridges pay tolls.

Surrey, Port Coquitlam, and North Vancouver city and district are among the cities that have now formally endorsed the call for regional tolling.

A GVRD staff report notes the concept now has “substantial support.”

Mussatto said the strategy would be more fair and generate new revenue to pay for transportation works.

“People on the North Shore have to pay their share as well,” he said.

Pitt Meadows Mayor Don MacLean said it’s ironic that the Gateway program may end up being the catapult that will launch what he said is a much-needed discussion.

The call for a “region-wide road pricing strategy” runs at odds to the provincial government’s tolling policy, which says only new or improved crossings be tolled and only when there’s a free alternative.

Transportation minister Kevin Falcon in the past has all but dismissed the idea, predicting local mayors and councillors won’t have the stomach for the political firestorm that would ensue.

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie was the only vocal opponent of the idea Friday.

“The provincial government has made it clear it’s simply a non-starter,” he said.

Brodie said anger unleashed by regional tolling would dwarf the fury politicians felt over proposals to impose a vehicle levy and the TransLink parking stall tax.

“This will be the grandfather of all discussions,” he warned. “You wait till you tell people in Vancouver you’re going to toll the Burrard bridge.”

The recommendation originally called for the road pricing strategy to be developed and implemented before Gateway proceeds – in other words, immediately.

But Brodie did succeed in persuading the committee to eliminate that deadline.

The final recommendations – which include a series of other proposed Gateway revisions – must still be ratified by the full GVRD board.

Other revisions the GVRD wants include:

• An expanded road user priority system, with allocated lanes and priority access to speed business cargo, transit and high-occupancy vehicles.

• A regional goods movement strategy to improve road, rail and marine transportation.

• A guarantee of HOV lanes for the Pitt River bridge and a better solution to New Westminster concerns about the North Fraser Perimeter Road, which will run through the downtown area.

Some communities are also demanding Victoria provide money to rebuild the Pattullo Bridge and ensure the Evergreen light-rail line gets build.

TransLink staff have been asked to prepare a report on road pricing systems used elsewhere in the world.

A debate to hammer out a final regional position on whether the GVRD supports the twinning of the Port Mann Bridge is being delayed until September.


source (http://www.tricitynews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=74&cat=23&id=687788&more=)

At least the City of Vancouver bridges are also included in the discussion - not sure about GVRD's jurisdiction to impose a toll on roads not owned by it (or by the Province) - but they are part of the Major Road Network, so maybe that's a way in.

It would also be politically difficult for the City of Vancouver to oppose tolls if the rest of the region votes to impose them.

*********

GVRD considering tolls on all major bridges in the Lower Mainland
Jul, 13 2006 - 8:40 AM

VANCOUVER/CKNW(AM980) - The GVRD is considering a proposal to put toll booths on all of the major bridges in the Lower Mainland. It is one of several options to make the gateway project more sustainable.
North Van City Mayor Darrel Mussatto says toll booths may not be popular with voters, but it may be the fairest way to spread the cost of future transportation projects.
Surrey Mayor Diane Watts is the Vice-Chair of the GVRD Transportation Mayor.
She says the idea of region-wide tolling is gaining popularity with Lower Mainland mayors. “First and foremost, we don't want to have tolls on any bridge,” Wattts said. “But looking at the cost of infrastructure and looking at traffic management strategies, a fair approach would be to toll all of the bridges."

The provincial government recently proposed putting tolls on two new Lower Mainland bridges as part of the Gateway Project.
But Watts says tolling only some bridges would shift traffic to other bridges. “I don't believe the Georgia Viaduct should be tolled,” said Watts. “But if we're looking at the Port Mann Bridge or the Burrard Bridge, some should be looked at and reviewed."

Watts says for now, the proposal is one of only several options the GVRD wants to study over the next few months.

i was watching the noon news on Global and i wasn't paying full attention but keith baldrey said soemthing about the provincial government abolishing translink - basically because translink the non-elected body is going ahead making these decisions and they are not elected and really shouldn't be doing the things its doing - like the tolls, parking space taxes etc.

Just want a clarification. Are they considering Granville, Burrard, Cambie, Arthur Laing, Oak, and Knight Street Bridges and the Lions Gate and Second Narrows major? If they are and are tolling these, wouldn't it be a nuisance for people living in Vancouver, Richmond, and the North Shore? I would be object tolling these bridges as these are busy bridges where some people travel on these more than once a day.

^ nobody uses toll booths anymore. we now use no-stopping methods by automated electronic tolling, using cameras to take pictures at license plates (bill sent to your house) and using transponders (frequent users will likely use this, automatically debits from your bank account).