Friday, August 7, 2009

No to Road Pricing, MoT

So it would appear that the new Minister of Transportation, Shirley Bond, does not support road pricing according to an article in the Burnaby News Leader. I can understand not supporting road pricing in most of BC as it is not needed , but I really think the Province needs to review their outdated road pricing (tolling) policy. On a side note, I believe that the only three places that would ever see road pricing would be Metro Vancouver, Victoria, and possibly Kelowna.
"We're not contemplating at this point changing our road-pricing policies," Bond said, adding the province's policy remains that any tolled roads or bridges must still offer an untolled alternative.

Road pricing is favoured by transportation experts, who say it offers the best way to control congestion, raise money and steer traffic to off-peak times through reduced rates.
Also in the article is mention of the Province's review of TransLink. To find the kind of money TransLink wants would require one of two things. 1.) The Province releasing TransLink of it debut servicing obligations. 2.) Cut wages at Coast Mountain Bus / Contract out bus service to a company that pays really low wages. I don’t think ether option will happen.
Bond has also ordered a review of TransLink by B.C.'s comtroller general that she hopes will identify potential savings, and look at capping executive and board salaries.
The review is to be complete by the end of September. TransLink's commissioner will also issue findings on the 10-year plan options by the end of August.

A hard look at costs and expenses is something CEO Tom Prendergast has said was already done in the early months of the 10-year plan process.

2 comments:

Light Rail Guy said...

It is interesting to note, London is slowly dismantling their pioneering road pricing scheme; voters in Manchester voted massively against road pricing; and in general road pricing is falling out of favour in Europe.

Anonymous said...

Of course people don't like road pricing because they prefer getting something for nothing. What they don't seem to grasp is that they are paying for the road one way or another and by not paying directly they're forcing otherwise unnecessary new construction that winds up costing them even more.

But in general people are stupid. They think getting a smart cell phone for just $99 is much better than having to pay $599 without stopping to realize that the difference is included in the monthly plan cost.