You’ve got two more weeks to tell the It’s Time project what you think of road pricing.
The online consultation, from Feb. 26 to March 14, is the second phase of the Mobility Pricing Independent Commission’s efforts to figure out a way to pay for transit in Maple Ridge and Metro Vancouver.
The survey is found on the It’s Time website and offers several examples of how distance-based charges or congestion point charges could combat traffic congestion.
“In our first engagement, more than 6,000 residents and stakeholders shared their perspectives on congestion, and principles such as fairness and affordability that we are considering as we study new ways to approach mobility pricing,” said Allan Seckel, chair of the Mobility Pricing Independent Commission.
“Now that we have some examples of how decongestion charging could work, we need more feedback to ensure that the commission’s recommendations are informed by the needs and priorities of the public.”
The survey presents short videos, maps, and pros and cons of examples:
• maintaining, reducing or eliminating the fuel tax;
• charging based on distance driven;
• charging at specific congestion points (areas or crossings);
The platform also asks for general feedback such as whether people would prefer a scenario where “everyone pays a little bit every time they drive” versus “only those people who drive in congested areas and at busy times are charged.”
People have already share their thoughts on the It’s Time Facebook page. More reliable transit has to be provided from Maple Ridge, said Ember Vine Newey. “I would take the bus every day if it didn’t take an hour to do a 20-minute trip.”
But Craig Smith said that congestion pricing is just another way of taking money out of people’s pockets.
Members of the commission got a rough ride in January when they visited Maple Ridge council.
If the final plan doesn’t work for Maple Ridge, the whole region will hear about it, says Mayor Nicole Read.
“Our community punches above its weight and we showed that in the plebiscite,” Read said in January.
Maple Ridge had highest no vote in the 2015 referendum which defeated a proposed .5-per-cent increase in the provincial sales tax to pay for transit.
People don’t want to pay more in road or bridge tolls if they don’t see improvements in transit, Read said at council’s Jan. 9 workshop.
And unless there’s a viable transit option, road pricing won’t work. “Congestion is reduced when you have transit. Nobody is going to get on transit if it’s not an efficient option.”
Read said that it’s still faster to drive into Vancouver than take the West Coast Express, which she said is too expensive and takes too long. If people are trying to take transit from Maple Ridge to somewhere beyond downtown Vancouver, it can be a three-hour trip.
“Where in the universe is a three-hour commute going to convince someone to get out of their car?”
Commission executive-director Daniel Firth said at the time that no large city uses a distance-based road tolling system. Usually, road tolls generate enough money to maintain bus service, he added. In London, England, the congestion tax charged to motorists in the central part of the city raises $600 million a year.
The It’s Time project used what’s called a coarse-level evaluation, to determine what type of road charges to put to the public.
The Mobility Pricing Independent Commission will provide its recommendations this spring in a report to the TransLink and the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation, who decide on next steps.