The provincial Conservative party leader, who triggered a snap election for February 27, also reiterated his distaste for congestion pricing
- With an Ontario election looming, car-related campaign promises are coming fast and furious
- Current premier Doug Ford is running in part on a 5.7-cent-per-litre gas tax cut he says would be permanent
- The provincial PC party leader is also vowing to lift the toll on sections of Highway 407
Campaigning ahead of the Ontario provincial election recently called for this month’s end, premier Doug Ford announced in a stump speech that a re-elected PC government would make its gas-tax cut permanent, whilst also removing tolls from publicly owned stretches of Highway 407.
In reference to the latter, it is worth remembering a stretch of the roughly 150-km highway is not privately owned. Users of that section, on the road’s eastern end, are on the hook for a much less-expensive toll than other parts administered by the foreign-owned entity called 407 ETR. For example, a light vehicle driving between the Highway 418 exit and the 407’s terminus at Highway 115 averages about 35 cents per kilometre. It is less on weekends and holidays.
Meanwhile, the swath between exits for Highways 427 and 400, right in the thick of the 407’s privately owned section, runs up to almost 68 cents per click. These numbers can change depending on the time of day and direction of travel. Rates in some zones can reach nearly 90 cents during weekday-evening rush hour. Driving the length of it in a light vehicle will ding drivers nearly 90 bucks without a transponder.
(For anyone not living in Downtown Canada and unfamiliar, the 407 has no actual toll booths, and instead uses transponders or plate readers and entrance/exit points to calculate the distance a vehicle has travelled along the highway’s length.)