Comment 64875

By policies (anonymous) | Posted June 14, 2011 at 09:34:09 in reply to Comment 64868

>North American policies in the past 65 years have also lured us into our current mode of survival.

...and user fees for roads would be a change in policy that would work toward reversing the trend. I'm not sure what you are arguing here...

Obviously tolling every road is impossible. And tolling roads is not going to be the one and only solution. But it could be part of the change which balances the transportation choices.

What if road tolls were able to reduce the municipal tax levies for roads? Tolls could be intelligently designed so that average users would see no net change in the cost of driving, while those who never drive would pay less and those who drive more would pay more. A correctly designed system would alleviate the problem of overburdening the taxpayer. Since the net result should be fewer km driven across the board, there should be an overall reduction in road costs.

What if, instead of tolls, one paid a surcharge for kilometers driven over a certain amount upon plate renewal? Or better yet, renewal costs were raised slightly across the board in order to bring them closer to covering actual costs - but we also implemented a credit for keeping below a certain number of yearly kms? Carrot instead of stick....

People scream about how they can't "not drive", but that's simply a resistance to change. I used to commute from Hamilton to North York, but I got myself out of that nightmare by taking a risk and finding a lower paying job in Oakville. Then I quit that for an even lower paying job even closer.

My incentive was a recognition of terrible quality of life. Some people need a greater incentive to cut their commutes. Perhaps user fees on roads will be the magic moment that saves many from their two hour commutes...

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