NDP removing tolls on Vancouver bridges

[Prestige Mike]

I have no problem with removing the toll on this bridge. As someone else mentioned, how would you like to have the Kelowna bridge tolled?

Removing the toll puts money back into the pockets of middle-class families.

[Prestige Mike]

144 million for W R Bennett bridge compared to 2.46 billion for Port Mann, hmm.... which one should have user fees.

It's all relative. How many people use the Port Mann everyday? How many use the WR Bennet everyday?

[Opeeved]

144 million for W R Bennett bridge compared to 2.46 billion for Port Mann, hmm.... which one should have user fees.

Uh, it was budgeted at 600 million

[Hassel99]

Stop whining. The cost of the William R. Bennett bridge is also being borne by the entirety of the province. If you're so in favour of bridge tolls, then look to the local bridge. Perhaps the toll on the Coquihalla should be reinstated as well. Let the users of the infrastructure pay for it.

Bennett bridge cost 5% of the port man.

[Hassel99]

144 million for W R Bennett bridge compared to 2.46 billion for Port Mann, hmm.... which one should have user fees.

Uh, it was budgeted at 600 million

it was $144mm.

If you disagree please provide a source.

The first press release from the BC Ministry of Transportation to include budget information was in 2003. At that time, the project was estimated to cost $100 million CAD for the bridge and another $20 million CAD for the two interchange upgrades on the west side of the lake.[1]

By June 29, 2005, the cost of the bridge was increased from the previous estimate of $100 million CAD to $144 million CAD "due to dramatic increases in the cost of construction materials and labour", which includes significant increases in the cost of concrete, steel, and fuel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_R._Bennett_Bridge

[GordonH]

144 million for W R Bennett bridge compared to 2.46 billion for Port Mann, hmm.... which one should have user fees.

Uh, it was budgeted at 600 million

Once you add operation & maintenance costs the number grows to 3.3 billion (this is for Port Mann Bridge)

[Opeeved]

144 million for W R Bennett bridge compared to 2.46 billion for Port Mann, hmm.... which one should have user fees.

Uh, it was budgeted at 600 million

Once you add operation & maintenance costs the number grows to 3.3 billion (this is for Port Mann Bridge)

Ok I was wrong. Can't find any supporting evidence for my memory fart. I heard it somewhere or I remember wrongly. But according to wiki cited by posters, the actual figure comes in at 179 million.

[Sparki55]

Well, well, well.........here we have the usual suspects whining about the removal of the bridge tolls. Are you guys all from the Okanagan? If you are, I suggest you google 'shadow tolls'. You've been paying for that Bennett bridge all along, and will continue to do so until the private partners who built it are paid back, many years from now. Same thing with all major infrastructure in B.C., Sea-to-Sky highway, Port Mann, Golden Ears, all of hem. But you think the good people of Surrey and Port Coquitlam should be paying an EXTRA toll just to drive back and forth to work? Those bridge tolls were simply another BC Liberal way to double dip so they could brag about a balanced budget and a surplus.

Yes, there should have been a toll on the Kelowna bridge as well.

Would be a great incentive for people to move closer to their work and not drive 30 min a day each way to the office; what a waste of time. It should be called a dumb toll.

I payed the toll on the golden ears bridge for 8 months and it was a huge incentive to move. Gas, insurance, car maintenance and tolls were about $700 a month!

[Opeeved]

144 million for W R Bennett bridge compared to 2.46 billion for Port Mann, hmm.... which one should have user fees.

Uh, it was budgeted at 600 million

Once you add operation & maintenance costs the number grows to 3.3 billion (this is for Port Mann Bridge)

But per my original thoughts, where does the majority of B.C.'s tax base reside? Both bridges were at the end of their life span, both needed to be replaced. For the people that use them and to keep economies moving. My first post in this thread stands.

[Opeeved]

Well, well, well.........here we have the usual suspects whining about the removal of the bridge tolls. Are you guys all from the Okanagan? If you are, I suggest you google 'shadow tolls'. You've been paying for that Bennett bridge all along, and will continue to do so until the private partners who built it are paid back, many years from now. Same thing with all major infrastructure in B.C., Sea-to-Sky highway, Port Mann, Golden Ears, all of hem. But you think the good people of Surrey and Port Coquitlam should be paying an EXTRA toll just to drive back and forth to work? Those bridge tolls were simply another BC Liberal way to double dip so they could brag about a balanced budget and a surplus.

Yes, there should have been a toll on the Kelowna bridge as well.

Would be a great incentive for people to move closer to their work and not drive 30 min a day each way to the office; what a waste of time. It should be called a dumb toll.

I payed the toll on the golden ears bridge for 8 months and it was a huge incentive to move. Gas, insurance, car maintenance and tolls were about $700 a month!

Oh man, really? Many people I talked to when I lived in west k said they bought there because real estate was substantially cheaper. It seems your argument is based on affordability of mortgage.

And you could've avoided the toll and taken lougheed to United boulevard. Wait, gas and time cost? Pay the golden ears toll. Cheaper right? Are you suggesting that higher lower mainland insurance, gas tax, and bridge tolls are the reason you moved to a community a tenth the size of lower mainland? And are now using that as argument for people to move a distance of roughly 15 km? To call them idiots? Disingenuous and paltry

There's that me me me again

[36Drew]

Bennett bridge cost 5% of the port man.

And your point is? The WRBenett serves a proportionate volume of traffic. Either it gets a toll, or no bridges are tolled.

[Sparki55]

Oh man, really? Many people I talked to when I lived in west k said they bought there because real estate was substantially cheaper. It seems your argument is based on affordability of mortgage.

And you could've avoided the toll and taken lougheed to United boulevard. Wait, gas and time cost? Pay the golden ears toll. Cheaper right? Are you suggesting that higher lower mainland insurance, gas tax, and bridge tolls are the reason you moved to a community a tenth the size of lower mainland? And are now using that as argument for people to move a distance of roughly 15 km? To call them idiots? Disingenuous and paltry

There's that me me me again

All I hear are excuses for people to fund a bridge they don't use. You would probably also like a gas subsidy for living in west kelowna and driving to your job in kelowna, all so you can reap the benefits of cheap property at the expense of a daily commute which is terrible for the environment.

[Opeeved]

144 million for W R Bennett bridge compared to 2.46 billion for Port Mann, hmm.... which one should have user fees.

It's all relative. How many people use the Port Mann everyday? How many use the WR Bennet everyday?

Well, as per C Clark's election promise of second crossing (lmao) studies have been done. I'm going on memory in this one and completely confident. Almost 60,000 vehicles a day over Bennett bridge, 85% is local traffic. Why should anyone else in the province pay for the bridge?

I keep going on about that concept because it rubs me so the wrong way. Selfish self absorbed me me me whiners

Are we or are we not in this together as a province?

[Opeeved]

Oh man, really? Many people I talked to when I lived in west k said they bought there because real estate was substantially cheaper. It seems your argument is based on affordability of mortgage.

And you could've avoided the toll and taken lougheed to United boulevard. Wait, gas and time cost? Pay the golden ears toll. Cheaper right? Are you suggesting that higher lower mainland insurance, gas tax, and bridge tolls are the reason you moved to a community a tenth the size of lower mainland? And are now using that as argument for people to move a distance of roughly 15 km? To call them idiots? Disingenuous and paltry

There's that me me me again

All I hear are excuses for people to fund a bridge they don't use. You would probably also like a gas subsidy for living in west kelowna and driving to your job in kelowna, all so you can reap the benefits of cheap property at the expense of a daily commute which is terrible for the environment.

Gotcha. Fingers in your ears and can't critically think.

Carry on. Lol

Ridiculous

Eta. Where do you live? So I can submit a receipt for costs of your infrastructure that I don't use

[JagXKR]

Regardless of whether the bridges are tolled or not saying you do not use a bridge is not really true.
Check everything you have bought recently. I would hazard a guess that 95% (maybe more) was not made or grown in your city/town. How did it get to your residence? I wonder? Maybe by truck delivering to a store? And that truck came from? Most likely came over that or other bridges. So saying you don't use the bridge is not really true. You buy therefore you use.