TransLink's potential plan for Knight Street Bridge Toll Toll, Knight, Bridge, plan, Street

Lik

WTF?!?!

http://news1130.com/more.jsp?content=20090916_133303_7504

Richmond councillors warn of TransLink potential plan for Knight Street Bridge toll
Katharine Kitts | Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 10:42 am

RICHMOND (NEWS1130) - City councillors with the 'Richmond First' political party are warning people about TransLink's idea to potentially put a toll on the Knight Street Bridge.  If true, you might have to dig in a little deeper in the future for the commute to-and-from Richmond and points south, and 'Richmond First' is warning it could have a dramatic impact on commuters and businesses.

The Knight Street Bridge, connecting Richmond to Vancouver, is owned and maintained by TransLink and could be a likely target for future 'road pricing' plans.  Richmond city councillor Bill McNulty worries it could significantly change traffic patterns across the Lower Mainland.  "When you talk about road pricing, you're talking about adding a tax or a toll, and as a result we're very concerned that may be one way of raising money."

A recent Regional Transportation Commissioner report highlighted the need for $130 million per year from existing revenue sources to maintain current service levels.  TransLink's Ken Hardie says ideas are still in the discussion stage.  "The issue has actually been discussed for a number of months in terms of how we pay for the big expansion that we need in the transit system in the region.  The real key at this time is to look at the concept of road pricing and what it actually means, how it could work and where it might be applied."

While he understands the shortfall, McNulty says tolling drivers on existing infrastructure is not an acceptable option.

Lik

Welfare is a provincial matter, while EI is a federal matter. In the face of the global recession and widespread layoffs, the Conservatives have tabled a bill to increase EI benefits, especially for those who have been contributing to the program for an extended period without receiving benefits for it.

Toronto is different because first of all, Hwy 407 was conceived to be a toll route from quite an early stage of its construction. Secondly, alternative routes can be used with relative ease to get to the same places that the 407 takes you to. In BC, the Golden Ears Bridge is a much closer example to what Hwy 407 is. Before tolling was lifted, the Coquihalla Hwy was also somewhat similar in nature to Hwy 407.

IMO, the bigger difference is, the Knight Bridge is a major and vital thoroughfare between two tiny, but extremely important municipalities in Metro Vancouver. Its central location in Metro Vancouver also makes it a most convenient route for a large number of citizens. Tolling the Knight Bridge would be extremely unfair because it will inadvertently divert a large amount of traffic to the remaining toll-free bridges -- namely the Arthur Liang, Oak, and Queensborough, all of which are located at either ends of the city.

If Gregor Robertson is stupid enough to impose tolling on all 3 bridges between Vancouver and Richmond, he can almost certainly kiss his next term of mayorship goodbye.

-Lik

Lik

Put HK as an example. The "Red Tunnel" was like "the only way" to get across HK Island and Kowloon, of course, besides taking ferries. And they charge for a fare.
Ultraman 發表於 2009-9-17 12:01

Hong Kong is a poor example in this case because the city was never meant to be a car-centric city like the majority of North American cities. The de facto method of transportation in HK is public transportation. On the other hand, Vancouver (and most North American cities) are built around the idea of having automobiles as the personal transportation of choice.

-Lik

Lik

i thought the toll will be imposed by translink and hv nothing to do with the cities?
news 發表於 2009-9-17 13:56

Not sure how this has anything to do with what I said...

-Lik