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City should exempt taxi industry from<br />
road tolls, say critics of new Tory plan<br />
by Mike Beggs<br />
The recently approved road tolls<br />
on the Gardiner Expressway, and<br />
Don Valley Parkway will be not<br />
only another annoying expense for<br />
suburban commuters, but, potentially,<br />
one more dagger in the side<br />
of Toronto taxi drivers courtesy of<br />
Mayor John Tory.<br />
After a drawn-out debate on December<br />
13, Council approved the<br />
Mayor’s controversial motion by a<br />
32-9 count. Three days later Council<br />
voted 32-4 to go ahead with a<br />
$3.2 billion rehabilitation plan for<br />
the Gardiner, approved earlier this<br />
year.<br />
Pricing is still to be determined,<br />
but a staff report projected that a<br />
$2 per trip toll would rake in $200<br />
million per year in revenues for<br />
the City, with a proposed startup of<br />
$100 million, and annual operating<br />
costs of $70 million. A staff report<br />
from September of 2015 proposed<br />
a flat fee of $1.25 to $3.25, or that<br />
the roads could adopt a distancebased<br />
system where drivers pay<br />
between 10 to 35 cents per km.<br />
traveled.<br />
According to staff, an estimated<br />
110,000 drivers use the DVP north<br />
of Bayview/Bloor, and 228,000<br />
drivers use the Gardiner east of<br />
Highway 427, every day. And, 40<br />
percent of drivers who travel the<br />
DVP and Gardiner come from outside<br />
the city.<br />
Reversing his position from the<br />
2014 mayoral campaign, Tory advocated<br />
that toll highways have<br />
become a necessity to, “tame the<br />
traffic beast.”<br />
“I believe traffic is at a crisis –<br />
and we have to fix traffic by building<br />
transit,” he stated.<br />
“Tolls are paid in cities around<br />
the world, places many of us have<br />
visited -- and have been shown to<br />
reduce travel times and ease congestion,<br />
as they encourage people<br />
to take transit.”<br />
Toronto must still receive permission<br />
from the province to implement<br />
the tolls. Transport Minister<br />
Steven Del Duca stated, “If<br />
the Mayor and the City want to<br />
implement tolling on City-owned<br />
highways that would be their decision,<br />
and they would need to have<br />
public buy-in.”<br />
He also acknowledged, “how<br />
important it is to relieve congestion<br />
in Toronto, for residents and<br />
commuters.” But he vowed the<br />
Province will not impose tolls on<br />
Ontario’s 400 series highways.<br />
Tory said the money raised<br />
through tolls would go into a separate<br />
fund, earmarked to address<br />
CREDIT<br />
+ 10¢ per credit transaction<br />
DEBIT<br />
per debit transaction<br />
$33 billion worth of unfunded<br />
transit, and infrastructure projects,<br />
and to be audited annually.<br />
The tolls were slammed by Progressive<br />
Conservative leader Patrick<br />
Brown, NDP leader Andrea<br />
Horwath, and the taxi industry<br />
(now facing the prospect of paying<br />
tolls all day, going back and forth<br />
from the downtown).<br />
“Road tolls, it’s just another<br />
cash grab,” says Sajid Mughal,<br />
president of the iTaxiworkers Association.<br />
“And it’s going to hurt<br />
the cab industry even more.”<br />
He notes the added cost, due to<br />
stopping at the tolls, will ultimately<br />
be passed on to the customer –<br />
with a typical $55 airport run, now<br />
coming to <strong>about</strong> $60 on the meter.<br />
And he questioned why a mayor<br />
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so strongly behind public transit<br />
has added to traffic congestion, by<br />
pushing for open entry for Uber X<br />
vehicles, under the new Vehicle-<br />
For-Hire bylaw (with some 20,000<br />
PTC vehicles now registered and<br />
cruising the streets)?<br />
“That $2 per car is not going to<br />
stay at $2 per car, like with 407<br />
tolls. As soon as they can increase<br />
it, they will,” warns Toronto Taxi<br />
Alliance executive director Rita<br />
Smith.<br />
“(And), we’re suspicious<br />
whether that money will actually<br />
go to improve transit. It may go to<br />
reserves.”<br />
And further to the point, with a<br />
3.2 percent property tax hike still<br />
on the table, she fears cab drivers,<br />
“are going to get hit twice.”<br />
In his vocal opposition to the<br />
tolls, Brown stated, “The last thing<br />
we need is to make life more unaffordable<br />
in Ontario.”<br />
“I certainly wouldn’t support<br />
tolling the DVP and the Gardiner,”<br />
he said. “To make people pay for<br />
the infrastructure they already paid<br />
for, it seems unreasonable.”<br />
Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti<br />
launched his own campaign<br />
against the tolls.<br />
“What they’re trying to do is<br />
grab money from the same old<br />
people all the time. These highways<br />
have already been paid for,”<br />
he told CP 24.<br />
Mammoliti argued that the<br />
Province should, once again, take<br />
responsibility for TTC funding<br />
and operations, through Metrolinx,<br />
suggesting it could save the<br />
City $600 million per year.<br />
Ward 7 Councillor Stephen<br />
Holyday warned consumers,<br />
“Hang on to your wallet, because<br />
5 January 2017<br />
you’re <strong>about</strong> to get robbed with<br />
these tolls.”<br />
The staff report recommended<br />
a range of ways to raise revenues,<br />
including a proposed property tax<br />
increase, and the reintroduction of<br />
the personal vehicle tax.<br />
Long-time Oakville owner/<br />
operator Al Prior urged industry<br />
members to support a petition<br />
against the tolls.<br />
“The 905 is really subsidizing<br />
Toronto, and it only encourages<br />
more toll roads,” he says. “There’s<br />
going to be tolls everywhere. This<br />
is a critical issue for the taxi industry.<br />
We can’t afford any more expenses.<br />
Even worse, the Gardiner<br />
won’t even move traffic as the<br />
repairs are being done -- your $2<br />
wasted.”<br />
Of the new tolls, Mississauga<br />
owner Peter Pellier scoffs, “Whatever<br />
Tory wants, Tory gets. What a<br />
weak-kneed Council.<br />
“(They will) do anything to<br />
avoid increasing property taxes,<br />
which they should be doing. Toronto<br />
property taxes are lower than<br />
right across the GTA.”<br />
He agrees one can look for the<br />
400 series of highways to follow<br />
suit in becoming toll roads, five to<br />
10 years down the line.<br />
“You think the provincial government<br />
is going to turn a blind<br />
eye? The Province is always hungry<br />
for cash,” he continues. “Once<br />
the public accepts tolls, they will<br />
maybe start with the 401.”<br />
Not only does he consider this a<br />
cash grab, veteran Toronto owner/<br />
operator Gerry Manley notes Tory<br />
campaigned heavily on the promise<br />
of no tolls.<br />
“I think we pay enough taxes in<br />
• see page 12<br />
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