Opinion: TransLink needs congestion pricing tolls across Metro Vancouver | Daily Hive

Opinion: TransLink needs congestion pricing tolls across Metro Vancouver to survive and thrive

Manhattan congestion pricing toll cameras. (rblfmr/Shutterstock)

Written for Daily Hive Urbanized by Nicholas Rae, a Master of Community Planning student at Vancouver Island University who is passionate about learning and advocating for more equitable, livable communities and cities.

When I was in Italy over the summer, it was hard not to notice that almost every city and town had a ZTL, a Traffic Limited Zone.

Fines for entering the zones without a permit can be up to €100 (C$149). Considering that almost 300 Italian cities have a more comprehensive version of congestion pricing protecting their historic city centres, they are surprisingly missing from our conversations on congestion pricing.

Some might say that these strategies only work because these cities were built before the car, but Vancouver was built before the car as well.

Like many North American cities, our main streets were decided by the streetcar network long before cars were introduced to the city. Controlling the flow of cars into the core has been a large part of what has shaped Vancouver. The cancelling of the proposed freeways into the downtown core in the 1960s leaves Vancouver as the only major city in North America without a freeway through it.

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Metro Vancouver doesn’t need to implement as strong a measure as Italian regions, but congestion pricing, such as tolls, would help solve a lot of the problems facing the region.

TransLink is currently facing an average $600 million funding shortfall per year starting in 2026, and without a new kind of funding generator, it is only going to get worse.

This budgetary shortfall could lead to public transit services being cut by up to 60 per cent, which would be disastrous for Metro Vancouver.

Last year, TransLink ruled out congestion pricing to fill their budget shortfall. This was shortly after New York State Governor Kathy Hochul temporarily delayed the start of congestion pricing in New York City (NYC). After years of planning, congestion pricing for the area of Manhattan that is south of Central Park began on January 5, 2025.

At the time of writing, there is a degree of uncertainty over the future of NYC’s congestion pricing system following statements made by U.S. President Donald Trump this week that he would move to kill these road tolls.

new york city mta manhattan congestion pricing map tolls mta

Manhattan congestion pricing zone map. (MTA)

However, with a month already under its belt, NYC is already seeing the benefits. Inbound car trips have seen improvements of up to 10 per cent to 30 per cent faster, with the Holland Tunnel seeing a 48 per cent average reduction during peak morning hours. Public transit has seen an increase in ridership, and express bus riders are saving up to 10 minutes on average.

The early statistics show that congestion pricing may also be making the congestion zone safer by reducing crashes compared to previous years.

Not to be confused with the 2022 cancellation of the City of Vancouver-led proposed scheme of tolling in downtown Vancouver and Central Broadway, with the municipal government keeping the generated revenues, implementing congestion pricing across Metro Vancouver would similarly reduce congestion. TransLink’s Mobility Pricing Independent Commission in 2018 found that a congestion charge across Metro Vancouver — not just in the city of Vancouver — could reduce congestion by 20 per cent to 25 per cent and raise $1 billion to $1.6 billion per year.

This would easily cover TransLink’s budget shortfall instead of the funding having to come from provincial or federal taxes. The surplus money could then go to future capital projects like SkyTrain Millennium Line’s extension to the University of British Columbia, North Shore rapid transit, and commuter rail along the Sea to Sky corridor. All of these projects have been promised by the BC NDP in their 2024 election platform but do not have significant funding yet attached.

A congestion charge would also align user costs for drivers closer to those paid by public transit users. Travelling between Richmond and downtown Vancouver costs an adult public transit user $3.85 without a monthly pass, while a driver only pays $0.20 to $0.50 through the $0.185 per litre gas tax to TransLink, depending on fuel efficiency. Battery-electric cars currently avoid this distance-based fuel tax while still contributing to congestion, road wear, and pollution from tires and brakes.

2018 Mobility Pricing Independent Commission: Regional congestion point charges/tolls. (TransLink)

2018 Mobility Pricing Independent Commission: Regional congestion point charges/tolls. (TransLink)

While this is an added cost to drivers, some of the benefits are specifically for drivers. Congestion pricing creates a management of demand for car usage. Congestion pricing allows drivers who need to use the road, like commuters, to pay for their use. Those who do not need to drive at peak periods can choose to change their travel habits by driving outside of congestion charge times or using other forms of public transit.

Opponents of congestion pricing have said that implementation would be a disaster for businesses within the congestion zone, but data from NYC has already shown that is not the case. Box office sales for Broadway shows are up for January year-over-year, and pedestrian traffic within the tolled zone grew more when compared to outside the area. Popularity for the program has already increased, with six out of 10 New Yorkers saying that the program should be allowed to continue.

Congestion pricing helps solve too many problems that our region is facing to not reconsider implementing in Metro Vancouver. B.C. is going to have to find a new funding model for TransLink, and the only other obvious option is through provincial funding.

If taxpayers are going to have to pay either way, why not through congestion pricing? If we are honest about our goals of reducing congestion, why not through congestion pricing?

If we want to create a more healthy, efficient, and climate-friendly region, why not through congestion pricing?

Public transit users already pay a fee when they travel through the region. Why should drivers functionally avoid paying when their congestion causes so many issues?

The provincial government, TransLink, and the Mayors’ Council should all work towards bringing forward a congestion charge plan for Metro Vancouver as quickly as possible. TransLink and the B.C. government need this funding source for their public transit projects.

In order to carry out such a scheme, the provincial government would have to provide TransLink with the green light to do so, as congestion pricing is under provincial jurisdiction.

TransLink’s Mobility Pricing Independent Commission in 2018 already engaged the public and put forward multiple options for implementation in Metro Vancouver.

One month in, we have already seen the benefits in NYC. Metro Vancouver’s future depends on it, too.

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