New tolls? Road pricing? Final report on mobility pricing due this week

Metro Vancouver will soon have a better idea about a potential road pricing scheme for the region, with the final report from an independent commission into mobility pricing due this week.

The report will be unveiled at TransLink Mayors’ Council meeting on Thursday.

The commission was looking at two mobility pricing models: congestion point charges, which could result in tolls on bridges and other key choke points, and distance-based charges which would vary by time and location.

The proposal is already drawing fire from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, with B.C. director Kris Sims arguing that drivers are being priced out of their vehicles once the cost of gas is factored in.

“I’m really worried that that this whole idea of ‘just take a train somewhere a couple of blocks away from your house and live small’ is winning the day, and I’m worried this is a way of punishing people for moving around, for driving their cars and for using oil and gas,” she said.

WATCH: Metro transit plan: What is mobility pricing?

Metro Vancouver’s mayors have argued mobility pricing is needed to cut congestion across the region, and to generate needed funds to pay for big ticket transit projects like light rail for Surrey and a Broadway subway.

The Mobility Pricing Independent Commission was formed last fall, and was tasked with developing the scheme.

Back in January, it released a preliminary report that narrowed possible options down to the congestion point and distance-based charge models.

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This week’s report is expected to provide a more in-depth look at what those models could look like if applied to the region.

The interim report also said the panel would take a second look at a potential fuel tax and the pricing of public and private paid parking.

WATCH: Mobility Pricing Commission begins public hearings

2:16 Mobility Pricing Commission begins public hearings

Another report produced in April warned that the plan is doomed to fail if residents perceive it as unfair.

That study, produced by the left-leaning think tank the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, warned that to work, any proposed system would have to address the needs of low-income households who are being priced out of the urban core, and residents reliant on vehicles for work.

Those are concerns Sims echoed as well.

“A lot of us have kids, that includes hockey equipment, gymnastics equipment, car seats — some of us actually have two jobs, we have two people working,” she said.

“In most families they often need two vehicles to get around we do big grocery shopping, we actually want to take our children and ourselves to see sights, and go places we don’t want to live in a tiny little habitat in downtown Vancouver.”

Other ideas the commission has said it is considering as longer term possibilities include mandatory “corridor charges,” where all drivers on a specific route are charged, a flat-fee per-kilometre charge and an annual vehicle levy.