For all you folks travelling the Port Mann regularly, are you all happy that the toll fees are going to be less than originally thought? I have considered selling my house in NV for a couple of years now and moving somewhere that I can live mortgage free. I have been thinking about Coquitlam or Port Moody but I may just wait and see how commuting over the new bridge works out and I may consider somewhere east of the Port Mann like Langley.
The new Port Mann bridge toll fees.
- Thread starter Elmore
- Start date
The website has a bunch of info. But I drive the Golden Ears now and again and I just get a bill (based on my license plate). If you don't pay then you can't renew your insurance or something like that. But the fee for that bridge is pretty ridiculous
it's all an election ploy. i think i heard that the 1.50 is only for the first year. after that the election will be over and they'll jack it up to the original 3.00 or whatever it was going to be.
Imagine how much faster the bridge could be paid for if our lazy translink could negotiate agreements with Alberta and WA, share half the revenue with them for their drivers for their troubles.
Speaking as a "token American", I can only address the Bay Area toll bridges (5 at last count).
First, tolls are only collected in one direction (East to West, or on the Golden Gate, heading North out of SF).
Daily or frequent users will purchase Tastrak Tags. This allows the toll to be taken from whatever type the account the user chooses. Tags are affixed to the windshield, and account is debited for each billable crossing.
The best part about it is there are separate toll lanes for Tag users. They can drive through the toll booths at about 35 MPH.
Those without tags must endure the long wait to pay by cash.
First, tolls are only collected in one direction (East to West, or on the Golden Gate, heading North out of SF).
Daily or frequent users will purchase Tastrak Tags. This allows the toll to be taken from whatever type the account the user chooses. Tags are affixed to the windshield, and account is debited for each billable crossing.
The best part about it is there are separate toll lanes for Tag users. They can drive through the toll booths at about 35 MPH.
Those without tags must endure the long wait to pay by cash.
I think here with the Golden Ears you can buy a similar pass to avoid getting individual bills. The rate on GE is super high, it's ridiculous. The one and only time I went over it the bridge is nearly empty on what should be a high traffic time. Stupid waste of dollars building it if no one will use it because there are other free options.
I guess the new Port Mann being toll as well will cut into that. I can't begin to imagine the added stress on the Patullo, already really inadequate for the current traffick on it.
Just my two cents
Has anyone noticed how crappy the economy is, and that there is no money for infrastructure improvements...
The tolls are neccesary, we need to stop our belly aching and start being more responsible, smearing mud, using a marker...surely you jest, Maybe the next time you are hungry you should just grab a chocolate bar and hide it in your pocket, I mean they sure are expensive nowadays...
Really as citizens we don't do enough to change the things that need changing, but we sure whine ehough when it affects us.
Next up... The NDP, and you think people are whining now...just wait
Has anyone noticed how crappy the economy is, and that there is no money for infrastructure improvements...
The tolls are neccesary, we need to stop our belly aching and start being more responsible, smearing mud, using a marker...surely you jest, Maybe the next time you are hungry you should just grab a chocolate bar and hide it in your pocket, I mean they sure are expensive nowadays...
Really as citizens we don't do enough to change the things that need changing, but we sure whine ehough when it affects us.
Next up... The NDP, and you think people are whining now...just wait
you know, you have to wonder where everyone's brains are? First of all, the trend is towards tolls, always has been, at least till the bridge is paid off. User pay, hard to beat. So don't want to pay, going to the Patullo instead? I doubt it! Cost of driving a car is not just the gas, government allows you up to 52.5 cents per KM on income tax claim for business in BC, so if you use that figure, at $1.50 per crossing, you have to live within 3 km of another bridge to make it cheaper to take that bridge. That rules out most of the commuters. So it could actually cost you more to divert from new crossing to another bridge. Consider that. And with lots of people threatening to do it, consider how much longer the line ups will be and hence how much more idling time or slow driving time you will have, using up more gas and another cup of coffee to sit inthe line up.
I think we have to face facts that we are going to pay the toll one way or the other.
People in this province are getting ripped off by their own short sightedness. first we killed the HST because none of us like it but now we have some businesses regretting that. We are going to pay for it one way or the other. We are grabbing a popular but dumb refrain to kill the pipeline, when in fact it will improve our economy and create new jobs. Lets just give it to the Americans and run it through the Alaska panhandle, they will love our stupidity once again. and sure lets not pay a token on the bridge, we can all swim across instead.
I think we have to face facts that we are going to pay the toll one way or the other.
People in this province are getting ripped off by their own short sightedness. first we killed the HST because none of us like it but now we have some businesses regretting that. We are going to pay for it one way or the other. We are grabbing a popular but dumb refrain to kill the pipeline, when in fact it will improve our economy and create new jobs. Lets just give it to the Americans and run it through the Alaska panhandle, they will love our stupidity once again. and sure lets not pay a token on the bridge, we can all swim across instead.
GE you can get a transponder, which reduces your rate, they charge you $1/month to rent the transponder and you still get a bill once a month... You just save per crossing, problem being they have noticed not enough people taking the bridge so they can't pay for the bridge, so they raise the rate to get more money, making people more reluctant to cross... I have friends out that way that would cross all the time if it cost them a buck each way, but at the reduced rate of $3 per, it makes them all think twice and only use it once or twice a month.
I read a couple years ago an idiot from translink saying that it wasn't getting used a lot because commuters are creatures of habbit and they just needed time to change their ways... Apparently no one at translink passed high school economics section on cost/supply/demand.... If they'd drop the rate in half I bet the users would more than double
Better yet a flat monthly rate for transponder would guarantee more usage and give them a pretty decent gauge of consistent monthly income
Tolls are pretty common in many States so I am used to them. It was just part of the expense to get from one place to the next. But then again, those States had a much lower cost of living than Vancouver. I think it is pretty normal for people to be unhappy over the extra charge, but they will get over it.
Always happy to help. I have never encountered a toll bridge/road anywhere in the Vancouver area.
Be thankful that you live in the West. Up and down the East coast of the US, into New England and throughout NY state and well into the mid-west, toll roads are everywhere.
Be thankful that you live in the West. Up and down the East coast of the US, into New England and throughout NY state and well into the mid-west, toll roads are everywhere.
Altering your plate is a huge fine, but there's a special cover you can buy that darkens your plate enough so the camera can't get a picture. They were very popular in Toronto when they opened the 407 toll road, then they made them illegal!Would smearing a little mud on your license plates work?
Or stopping before the bridge and changing your plate using a black (blue) marker?
Very practical Missy. I drive around the same area once a year, know what you mean. But just slow down and pay the toll. Bit of a pain when you don't come from the area and don't expect it. go around a corrner in New England there is a toll booth, out of the blue.
But have we all forgotten the Coquihalla? It had a large toll on it for many years, went on till the highway was paid for. Then one day suddenly the toll booths were closed and torn down. Same thing in Ontario one one or two bridges on the Queen E highway, once a bridge was paid for, toll was cancelled.
I kind of think this is going to be like income tax though. The Government needs the money. We may have to pay it forever.
How come no one is talking about public transit to avoid the toll? Can you imagine saying " I am not going to pay that toll, I am going to take the bus!" Hell no!
But the bus is the answer. Used to take them myself. Was great, read a book a week, slept on the way home at night, made it part of my sleep cycle, no stress, way to go.
But have we all forgotten the Coquihalla? It had a large toll on it for many years, went on till the highway was paid for. Then one day suddenly the toll booths were closed and torn down. Same thing in Ontario one one or two bridges on the Queen E highway, once a bridge was paid for, toll was cancelled.
I kind of think this is going to be like income tax though. The Government needs the money. We may have to pay it forever.
How come no one is talking about public transit to avoid the toll? Can you imagine saying " I am not going to pay that toll, I am going to take the bus!" Hell no!
But the bus is the answer. Used to take them myself. Was great, read a book a week, slept on the way home at night, made it part of my sleep cycle, no stress, way to go.
All summer I've been driving my street bike and everytime I go over the golden ears bridge I just lift up my plate and cross lol. Can't do it on a car though
Yes, a lot of money goes to strange projects, but strange artworks they place all over the city generally aren't part of that:
http://vancouverbiennale.com
