There’s not much appetite in Metro Vancouver right now for more mobility pricing, according to Burnaby’s mayor.
Derek Corrigan made those comments in response to a report released by the Mobility Pricing Independent Commission this week.
The commission, which launched last summer, was tasked with looking at ways to reduce traffic congestion while raising revenue to improve the region’s current transportation system.
The group consulted with more than 6,000 residents and stakeholders, and after studying 10 policy tools, narrowed it down to two.
The first is congestion point charges – a system that charges drivers at high congestion points like at bridges and tunnels, or at entry/exit points of a “defined area.” The second is distance-based charges, which vary by time and location. Drivers in some areas pay more per kilometre at busy times of day.
“I’m not sure that it will reduce congestion,” Corrigan, chair of the Mayors’ Council, told the NOW. “We keep trying to find a way to reduce congestion, but I don’t know that having people pay more is going to significantly change the traffic patterns in the Lower Mainland.”
If any kind of road pricing was to be implemented, there would need to be some form of financial relief elsewhere – like a lower fuel tax or cheaper parking, said Corrigan. (The commission will be looking at both of those as “complementary tools,” according to the report.)
He noted Burnaby council is “very hesitant on this kind of idea.”
“I think that’s probably true right across the Lower Mainland. Ultimately, it has to go back to the local level to see whether or not councils are prepared to implement that kind of major change. I don’t think the appetite is there right now,” he said.
New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote said it’s too early to say which policy is the better option. He said he’s looking forward to learning more about each of the two approaches in the next phase of the study.
It’ll be a challenge to convince the public to buy in into a pricing scheme, he said.
“That’s always been the difficult thing. If you look at places around the world, before mobility pricing is put in place, people are very skeptical.”
The commission’s report looked at public support in five European cities where mobility pricing was implemented. In Stockholm, Sweden, the level of acceptance before the system came online was 21 per cent. After, it was 67 per cent. In Bergen, Norway, those numbers were 19 per cent and 58 per cent, respectively.
Mobility pricing needs to go hand in hand with improving transportation options in the region, according to Cote.
“The current mayors’ 10-year-plan has done a very good job of spreading transportation investment all across the Metro Vancouver region and putting particular focus on areas that are fastest growing but currently underserved by transit,” he said, pointing to Surrey’s LRT project and others in Maple Ridge and the Tri-Cities. “I think for this concept to be successful, it also has to go in tandem with transportation improvements that can be seen as viable transportation options for people throughout the region.”
The commission’s study found respondents preferred a system that charged less in areas with fewer transit options, and not one that would charge based on the number of kilometres driven.
In the next phase of the project, scheduled to start later this month, the commission will seek additional input about the two policies.
For more information, visit www.itstimeMV.ca.
