Canadians hate toll roads. They don’t riot against the notion of paying for gasoline, beer or maple syrup, but ask them to pay a road toll and they flip into hysterics. Canada has some of the worst traffic in the world and yet political parties at all levels and in virtually every province oppose tolls. The current Doug Ford government in Ontario has made banning the toll roads a kind of holy crusade.
I am in favour of toll roads. So are Americans. Their argument for toll roads is that they keep taxes down and sustain infrastructure. Maybe that’s why Canadians are so opposed. A country whose national identity is based on “not” being American must take a contrary position no matter how illogical. When it comes to highways, we just keep taxes high and let congestion worsen to record levels.
I don’t get it. What’s not to like? If you want to travel, you pay for the privilege. Toll roads have existed for more than 3,000 years. Travellers in the 7th century B.C.E. who used the Susa–Babylon highway paid a toll to the ruling Ashurbanipal regime. The first toll roads in North America appeared in the early 1800s. You can find toll roads all over the world in all sorts of countries. They raise revenues and reduce congestion. You wanna play? You gotta pay.
I can’t write enough negative things about drivers who commit road rage
That’s why, faced with a long drive through the United States, I got an E-ZPass. I spend a lot of time driving in New York State, but until this year I never thought getting a transponder would be worthwhile. Now there is electronic cashless tolling on the Grand Island bridges between Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Buffalo and on the Interstate 90. I was also tired of fumbling for cash or getting toll bills in the mail or by email and paying them online. So, I got the E-ZPass.
Unlike Highway 407 transponders, E-ZPass transponders are free. I picked mine up in the United States. Canadians can also apply online or by mail. There was an initial charge of US$35.00, which was pre-loaded as a credit into my account. There are no annual fees and there is no expiry. The E-ZPass operates with various toll agencies in 17 states. You can drive throughout Florida and an E-ZPass transponder will be read by all toll roads and included in one E-ZPass bill. On the West Coast, Canadians can consider Washington State’s Good To Go Pass as well as California’s FasTrak.
Was it worth it?
I don’t know, was it worth it to cruise along in Virginia’s I-95 Express Lanes, a 59.2-kilometre stretch of high-occupancy toll lanes that run from Fredericksburg to Washington? To our right, the regular lanes were clogged, barely moving. Our E-ZPass transponder allowed us to enter the Express Lanes. By the time we had driven both the I-95, I-395 and I-495 around traffic-infested Washington, we’d shaved around 40 minutes off our trip. The cost was US$9.
I’m happy to pay for the privilege of express lanes. If you would rather be stuck in traffic, go ahead and save your money. Time savings are dependent on several factors such as time of day, traffic volumes and highway. By my estimate, we saved more than 50 minutes in total using E-ZPass lanes in New York, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.
You have the choice to pay for express lanes, but there’s no way to escape a highway’s obligatory tolls. Here, having an E-ZPass saves money. Costs varies by state. “Toll by mail in New York State is now 75-per-cent higher than E-ZPass plus the US$2 administrative surcharge,” says Ron Rienas, chief executive officer of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, which has owned and operated the Peace Bridge since 1933. “International toll bridges cannot do toll-by-mail because they do not have access to licence plate data. At the Peace Bridge, the E-ZPass toll rate is US$4 for a roundtrip toll, half the credit/debit rate of US$8.” Rienas adds that “there are significant vehicle emission reductions by reducing stops and starts and idling.”
Our total bill for our 11-plus-hour drive from the Outer Banks, N.C., to the border was $42.55 minus the $35 credit for a net total of $7.55, automatically billed to the credit card on our account. If we did not use E-ZPass that toll (expect for the express lanes) would have been much higher.
Then we arrived back in Canada. What a disaster.
Hate the Monarchy? You’ll love the fact that they named the clogged nightmare that is the highway linking Niagara Falls to Toronto the “Queen Elizabeth Way.” Loathe people who spend time cultivating plants and tending a garden for pleasure or recreation so much you think the name of their job should be misspelled? Then the “Gardiner Expressway” is for you.
It is 130 kilometres from Toronto City Hall to Clifton Hill on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. It should be, at most, an hour and a half drive. It can often take three hours. You could always take the train – keep in mind that there is only one per day, that’s right one train a day from Toronto to one of the world’s most popular destinations.
But look ma! No tolls!