Rob Ford denies road tolls will fund Sheppard subway
Posted May 31, 2011 8:10 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Mayor Rob Ford says he will not use road tolls to pay for the Sheppard subway expansion, though the man he hired to find funding has been touting it as an option.
Former TTC commissioner Gordon Chong said along with charging developers and borrowing against future tax revenue, the city should consider highway tolls.
In March, when Ford announced the $4.2-billion plan to extend the Sheppard line east to the Scarborough Town Centre and west to Downsview station, he promised the money would come from the province, Ottawa and the private sector.
The mayor didn’t specify details but he, Coun. Doug Ford, and TTC chair Karen Stintz all said Monday the plan will not include tolls.
Some councillors argue relying on developers for funding will mean high-rise condos will mushroom on Sheppard Avenue and increase density.
One person who has continually touted the benefits of road tolls is Ontario’s Environment Commissioner, Gord Miller.
Miller cites London England’s expensive road tolls as a successful example in reducing the number of cars entering the downtown core. He believes it would work here as well by encouraging car pooling.
“The average occupancy of a vehicle in the GTA is 1.1 people per vehicle. If we could just increase that to 2.2, we could have half the cars on the road,” he said.
“A third of all the emissions in Ontario come from transportation, mostly from gas and diesel.”
