Should Montreal make drivers pay a toll to go downtown? Coderre is open to the idea

It's a recurring idea enticing to some, loathsome to others that often ends up on the cutting room floor.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre floated the possibility this week of atoll system that would charge drivers heading into the city.

The extra feewould help curb congestion, he said, while the revenues could be used to help fund public transit projects.

Coderrecited the congestion charge introduced in London in 2003 as an "option that could be very inspiring."

The idea was one of several put forward by Coderre on Thursday, when the mayor announced the creation of atwo-year, $3.4-million research project devoted to electronic and intelligenttransportation.

The ultimate goal, he said, is to reduce congestion,encouragepublic transportation and foster the growth of the city centre.

• Soul sucking traffic delays in Toronto and Montreal hurt your productivity, 'quality of life'

A recent study found that a Montreal driver spent, on average,52 hours in traffic in 2016. The transportation analytics firm Inrixranked Montreal the worst place for traffic in Canada, and 23rd worst overall.

Politically taxing

Tolls have been cited as an effective way to reduce traffic and pollution,but they can also be politically fraught.

Earlier this year, Toronto Mayor John Tory's plan to put tolls on two major highways theGardinerExpressway and the Don Valley Parkway was nixed by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne.

Wynne said she won't approve the plan until suburban drivers have better transit alternatives to get to and from the downtown area.

Tolls and fees are more common in Europe.

In 2013, 10years after the implementation of the London congestion charge, a study found that therewas a 10 per cent reduction in traffic.

Moreover, the charge generated roughly $2 billion in net revenueduring that time, which was poured intopublic transport, road and bridge improvement, as well as walking and cycling projects.

Thesystemin effect during peak hours between Monday and Friday does not rely on tolls. Rather, it depends on licence recognition.

A similar model was implemented on a trial basis in Stockholm in 2006, where it led to a significant reduction in congestion. It was made permanent the next year and now brings the city roughly$107 million per year in additional revenue.

What's the big idea?

Ex-mayor GeraldTremblayalso wanted to install tolls to help fund public transit.In 2009, he said tolls on roads into Montreal from Laval and the South Shore could bring in as much as $400 million.

There was talk of putting a toll on Montreal's new ChamplainBridge.But with his eyeon several South Shore ridings,Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ruled out that possibility in the last election campaign.

Coderrewas also against a toll on the new bridge.

On Thursday, though, he said that was because the tolls were going to be used to fund the bridge, andnot public transit.

Coderre didn't go into details about how a toll system or congestion feewould work.

The aim of any policy, he said, wouldn't be to introduce another tax, but rather to "encourage public transit use, especially in the downtown area."

Mark Watts, executive director of theC40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, which is involved in the Montreal research project, said the future of cities doesn't rest with cars.

"I'm afraid the era of the private automobile with the combustion engine is pretty much over and we're going to have much healthier cities, much quieter cities and ones where there's going to be a lot more as a result." he said.

By Coderre's reasoning, a toll system would help finance the transition to this car-less future.

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