Saturday, September 11, 2010

Things They Should Invent: self-obsoleting road tolls

There has been talk of introducing road tolls to reduce congestion and help pay for infrastructure, and of course car people are vehemently opposed.

I previously came up with the idea of congestion-based tolls - the more cars on the road, the higher the toll. Let's build on that and charge tolls only when there are so many cars that traffic isn't flowing smoothly. If traffic on a particular road is flowing smoothly, everything's fine, we don't need tolls. If traffic is congested and yet people are still trying to drive on the road, we start charging them tolls. (There would be signage before you enter the road).

If you're a Metropass subscriber, you get a special transponder that allows you to drive on the toll roads for free. (Alternate marketing idea to attract the motorist demographic: It's an All-Access Pass that, in addition to giving you unlimited travel on the toll roads, gives you unlimited travel on the TTC.) This is good because your money is going to the TTC (which ultimately gets cars off roads).

There would also be incentives for carpooling. If you have two transponders in your car, you get 50% off tolls. If you have three or more, you get to ride for free. Since each transponder must be issued to a registered and insured vehicle (but doesn't have to be physically attached to the vehicle, so you can take it with you while carpooling), this will make sure that carpooling incentives to go actual carpoolers, not people just driving their kids around.

So ultimately, if enough people take the TTC or carpool or take alternate routes, road tolls will never be collected. But if people continue to insist on engaging in congestion-producing behaviour, road tolls will be collected. But the tolls will be used to improve infrastructure so as to reduce congestion in the long run, so ultimately they will go extinct either way.

6 comments:

jpg said...

This is such a great idea. If people could get over their knee-jerk aversion to the idea of any road toll ever, this would be an awesome way to do it.

I guess one problem (if there is one) is that this type of road toll might tend to penalize people who drive into the city for work (fixed schedules) rather than recreation (flexible)... most people who are going into the city for a night out or to go shopping or visit friends are careful not to drive during rush hour, while people who work regular hours will be stuck in traffic every day, and won't have much choice in the matter (other than carpooling which is a great idea). There are still some parts of the city that are not very easy to get to by GO/TTC. Maybe for the first year of the tolls, 100% of the money could be allotted to improvements in public transit and increased, especially its connectivity to the other neighbouring transit systems (eg. the YRT, mississauga transit, etc)? That might help.

impudent strumpet said...

I guess it's a question of how many people there are who have traditional rush-house schedules AND are travelling to destinations that aren't well-served by transit AND are travelling by the busiest routes. I don't have any information whatsoever on this, but it seems unlikely. And if there are a significant number of people who meet these criteria, maybe it's a sign of ways transit needs to be improved.

Maybe they could also do something about parking so people coming from outside the city could leave their cars at the edge of the city somehow.

What they really need to do is poll everyone who's driving on, say, the DVP and ask them "Why are you driving today?"

laura k said...

Those are some great ideas!

People generally go nuts any time someone suggests they pay for something they are accustomed to using for "free" (or pay through their taxes, but don't pay for services). But is there any evidence that charging tolls reduces congestion?

There are very high tolls, for example, to enter NYC from New Jersey by bridge or tunnel (the only options). But when the toll increases, traffic and congestion do not decrease, possibly because public transit options don't improve. (But maybe also for other reasons.)

When we moved to the GTA, I was amazed that it is cheaper for us to drive in and park than to take the GO + TTC. Plus the GO runs so infrequently as to make the trip very inconvenient. I never thought I would do this, but we drive because it is both cheaper and easier.

laura k said...

but don't pay for services

Sorry, I meant fee-for-service, or pay-per-use.

laura k said...

And one more note, connecting to Mississauga Transit will never help, because almost no one who owns a car uses it. MT is very limited and seems to be used exclusively by carless people.

impudent strumpet said...

I don't know if it actually reduces congestion, but it would create a revenue stream to improve infrastructure. I think the generally accepted model when talking about Toronto is that the tolls would be used to improve public transit. So ideally they should be obsoleting themselves anyway, but since people are still squeamish about that I decided to make a model where the self-obsolescence was more glaringly obvious.