Ontario election: NDP says it would initiate purchase of Hwy. 407, remove tolls
https://globalnews.ca/news/10979119/ndp-sale-highway-407-remove-tolls-election/
This would right a great historical wrong
It will fill up within a year due to induced demand and we will be short tens of billions. This ain’t it. When will Ontario learn that spending billions on more and wider highways will not fix car traffic?
Any serious plan to tackle car traffic must include better public tansit which gets drivers (read: car traffic) off the road.
How about we just limit demand by having office workers stay home? We already know that solves the problem, and it’s free.
Boo, put a vehicle weight toll in and traffic will get smaller
Hardly seems like a priority, I’m a bit disappointed to see the NPD wasting efforts on road. We need more tracks and trains.
Though if they are certain it’s a worthy concession to get swing voters then it’s got to happen. I just think the next time the conservatives take power they’ll just sell it again.
Unfortunately traffic is become a hot button issue in the GTA. That’s why Ford is ripping out bike lanes and talking about tunnelling under the 401: Even if these policies aren’t good long term solutions (or even short term solutions), they definitely win votes in the 905 right now.
^^This
You can’t win in Ontario without winning the 905, and this actively helps achieve that.
In order to get progressive policies, progressives have to get elected first. So if you want bike lanes back with an added bonus of congestion pricing and transit pricing, this is a reasonable trade
@Seigest I’m all aboard tracks and trains. I think all parties are onboard, Ford included. That said, I think one has to meet people where they are. In other words, one shouldn’t ignore their material conditions. If a party wants those votes, they should address real problems with tangible solutions for these people.
I don’t know enough about the 407 sale but I’m guessing it never got wide usage due to the tolls which made it easy to sell. If many use it, a sale would be difficult.
of all the things they could launch their bid with, this was the choice. i’m so confused.
@banana_wizardSama the 905 really cares about highway traffic. Most people in the suburbs can’t reach their workplace without getting on a highway. I’m not happy about it. I don’t like that they also like filling an F150’s worth of space for a single passenger, but it is what it is. If she wants to make a dent outside of Toronto and Hamilton, I’m not surprised she went in this direction. More broadly if we’re to address the problem with higher highway capacity, the 407 is the cheapest option.
It’s kind of ironic that the buyout of the 407 and removing tolls outright is considered a traffic capacity solution when the central part of the highway does get busy during rush hour, but not so busy to the point where volume slows down the flow of traffic.
But definitely I can also see how that’s a popular move given how the average voter would believe that traffic would flow so much better without tolls without realizing the implication that more people (myself included) would be more drawn to using it.
Not saying I’m completely against it, since the masses need to be won over anyways. I also think that there’s benefits to traffic outside of peak times, to an extent.
@moonbunny I think that’s pretty much it. Gotta make a tangible perceived difference. Then mass invest in alternatives that actually improve things long term. Then at some point play parts of the same class against each other - large vehicles vs smaller vehicles to remove truck commuters from the roads.
