Trust our regional bureaucrats to try to screw the motorist once again, to raise funds to subsidized ill -conceived and obsolete transit planning and investment, by wanting to implement road pricing.
Road pricing, contrary to what the motorist is being told, is not widely implemented, nor has it been very successful when it has been.
Gas taxes and bridge tolls are a form of road pricing, but our bureaucrats want more.
For road pricing to be successful, the region must have a viable public transit service for the motorist, which we don’t, nor will we under current planning.
The reason why there are demands for road pricing is simple. TransLink has squandered billions of taxpayers’ money on “showcase” light-metro projects, which have done little to attract the motorist from the car, and they need more money to do the same.
Since 1994, the regional share has remained at 57 per cent for car drivers, which indicated that TransLink, instead of doing the right things, is doing the wrong things.
Universal cheap fares for students; rejecting much cheaper, just as effective light rail in favour of the hugely expensive obsolete SkyTrain light metro system; and an out-of-control bureaucracy overseen by an out-of-touch board of directors have all helped TransLink to dig itself into a financial mire.
Sadly, road pricing will not solve any problems and in fact, will help TransLink to pursue its madness by doing the same thing over and over again, always hoping for different results.
D. Malcolm Johnston
Delta
