2015-11-03, 9:17 PM Coyne: Vancouver traffic-congestion plan could be model for the world | canada.com Page 1 of 5 http://o.canada.com/news/vancouver-traffic-congestion-plan-could-be-model-for-the-world Sections News Entertainment Life Business Financial Post Biz Technology Sports Travel Driving Househunting Obituaries Jobs Andrew Coyne Published: June 16, 2014, 8:34 pm Updated: 1 year ago Coyne: Vancouver traffic-congestion plan could be model for the world Traffic on Vancouver's Hastings Street; the B.C. city has the worst congestion in Canada. PHOTO: WAYNE LEIDENFROST/POSTMEDIA NEWS/FILE Tweet Tweet 53 7 82 Like Like 38 Not much was made of last week’s report by the Mayors’ Council, a group of Vancouver-area mayors, even in the Vancouver press. Perhaps it was the unsexy title, “Regional Transportation Investments: A Vision for Metro Vancouver.” Or perhaps it just seemed like another of those big-spending wish lists city politicians are in the habit of producing: a light rail line here, some buses and bike paths there, and by the way, could someone else please pay for it? It is that, in part: $7.5 billion in new capital spending, plus another $2 billion in annual operating costs, with the other two levels of government asked to pick up more than half the tab. But within its 38 pages are the seeds of a revolution — a scheme that would not only fix the congestion in the country’s most congested city, but over the longer term lead to profound changes in how Vancouverites get about, even where A A A TSAWWASSENSPRINGS.CA Don't Miss! Crystal exploding into river cruise market Search canada.com... COMMENT Online shoppers want returns made easier.
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2015-11-03, 9:17 PMCoyne: Vancouver traffic-congestion plan could be model for the world | canada.com
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Andrew CoynePublished: June 16, 2014, 8:34 pm
Updated: 1 year ago
Coyne: Vancouver traffic-congestion plancould be model for the world
Traffic on Vancouver's Hastings Street; the B.C. city has the worst congestion in Canada.
PHOTO: WAYNE LEIDENFROST/POSTMEDIA NEWS/FILE
TweetTweet 53 782LikeLike
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Not much was made of last week’s report by the Mayors’ Council, a group ofVancouver-area mayors, even in the Vancouver press. Perhaps it was the unsexytitle, “Regional Transportation Investments: A Vision for Metro Vancouver.” Orperhaps it just seemed like another of those big-spending wish lists city politicians arein the habit of producing: a light rail line here, some buses and bike paths there, andby the way, could someone else please pay for it?
It is that, in part: $7.5 billion in new capital spending, plus another $2 billion in annualoperating costs, with the other two levels of government asked to pick up more thanhalf the tab. But within its 38 pages are the seeds of a revolution — a scheme thatwould not only fix the congestion in the country’s most congested city, but over thelonger term lead to profound changes in how Vancouverites get about, even where
A A A
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Crystalexplodinginto rivercruisemarket
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2015-11-03, 9:17 PMCoyne: Vancouver traffic-congestion plan could be model for the world | canada.com
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they live. There are many details still to be worked out, and some daunting politicalobstacles to be overcome, but if the mayors can pull this off it will make Vancouver amodel for the rest of the world. Yes, it’s that big.
The plan? The mayors refer to it as “comprehensive mobility pricing.” It’s never quitespelled out what this means, but it’s clear this would go far beyond putting tolls on theodd bridge or highway, of a kind the region’s inhabitants have grown used to — apiecemeal approach that has simply shifted the burden of congestion, rather thanreduced it. Instead, the mayors appear to favour a system that would see drivers payto use the entire road network, much as they now pay to use their cellphones, withdifferent charges applying on different roads at different times.
Just another night for rush hour as hundreds of cars make their way north along downtownVancouver’s Georgia street. (Mark van Manen/PNG Staff)
To be sure, the mayors present this in conventional terms, as a way of financingtransit. But, radically, they admit that “even substantial new investment in transit can’tsolve the congestion problem on its own,” for the same reason building new roadsdoesn’t: Even if you persuade a few drivers to give up their cars, and even if thatspeeds up traffic for a time, the benefits are short-lived. “Reducing the ‘price’ ofdriving in this way,” the mayors note, “only stimulates demand and, very soon, morepeople are making more trips and travelling further.”
What’s needed, rather, is a means of managing the demand for road space, system-wide — comprehensively, continuously and dynamically. For this, the mayors note,“there is only one tool that has a proven track record. It’s the tool that we use toallocate scarce resources everywhere else in the economy: pricing.” By charging alower price to use less-congested routes and at off-peak times, drivers who havesome flexibility are encouraged to “free up valuable space for those who have nooption but to travel at that time or on that route.” (The report recommends pricingtransit in the same way.)
The benefits of pricing road use are not limited to reducing congestion. Over time, aspeople factored in the full cost of their daily commute into their plans, one could
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2015-11-03, 9:17 PMCoyne: Vancouver traffic-congestion plan could be model for the world | canada.com
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imagine many of them deciding to live closer to where they work, reversing the sprawlthat is everywhere the result of building cities around the automobile, or rather thesubsidized automobile. The same analysis, of course, would argue againstsubsidizing transit — rather than paying the cost of transit subsidies, road pricingwould make them unnecessary, as transit became more cost-competitive with driving.But leave that to one side. Road pricing is too big a breakthrough to quibble about thedetails — although we should note that the mayors would also use the revenues toknock six cents a litre off the gas tax.
Hundreds of cars make their way east on the second narrows bridge during rush hour inVancouver. (Mark van Manen/PNG Staff)
The mayors have talked about this sort of thing before, in a blue-sky way. But withcongestion already at record levels, and with the population of Metro Vancouverprojected to grow by one million over the next 30 years, “we are now firmly committedto staging the introduction of more comprehensive mobility pricing on the roadnetwork.” A “field study” is to be conducted over the next year, testing differentmethods of implementation. Provided they get the political go-ahead — the provincewould have to approve, and then only after a region-wide referendum, likely nextspring — the plan could be up and running in five to eight years.
How would it work? The mayors cite such inspirations as the toll lanes on severalU.S. highways — some guarantee the posted speed or your money back — and theElectronic Road Pricing system in place on major arteries in Singapore, both of whichuse land-based “gantries” to monitor entry and exit. Comprehensive road-pricingstrategies, however, have waited upon the development of GPS-based systems, within-car transponders, much like the navigational units installed in many new cars. Withthis technology, it’s possible not only to charge drivers for their use of the roads, butto advise them of the price of alternative routes.
Several jurisdictions have been testing this approach, already in use for trucks onGerman highways. In the past decade, the United Kingdom and Netherlands bothhad fully worked-out schemes set to go into effect nationwide, interrupted in eachcase by unrelated changes in political leadership. Vancouver could well be the firstplace anywhere to proceed — if Singapore, which has lately announced plans toconvert to a GPS-based system by 2020, doesn’t beat them to it.
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There’ll be time enough to debate the proposal in the months ahead. For now I justwant to salute the mayors’ vision, and their courage. For the first time, a group ofelected leaders in Canada has put forward an actual, rather than pretend, solution tothe congestion problem. Here’s hoping Vancouverites can be persuaded to see itsmerits.
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4 Comments Sort by
Barry Brown-JohnIt may well be a sign of the times, as a result of our "electronic"connection to just about everything, Management of billing system wouldbe by some "chip" method of recognition (very much like the "New PortMann). I also think it is a very sound concept, worth seriousconsideration. To think that we can live with and pay for the independenttransportation choices we make, makes some sense?Like · Reply · Jun 18, 2014 8:34pm
Clayton Mitchell · Instructor at University of British ColumbiaSo Robertson creates congestion through poor planning policies thentries to pull a massive tax grab and you think it is a good idea? Could weget a more analytical reporter covering this please?Like · Reply · Jun 17, 2014 5:29pm
Jayeson Bushnell · West Vancouver Secondary Schoolthe media is selling itself to the highest bidder to stay alive thesedays. have an opinion you want people to start believing? pay usx amount of dollars and we'll put your article on page 3!
Like · Reply · 1 · Jun 18, 2014 11:35am
Laird Oscienny · Webmaster at Hamels Fabrics & QuiltingThis is a horrible idea, sorry.Like · Reply · Jun 17, 2014 5:05pm
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