Could HOV lanes become toll lanes?

The temporary High Occupancy Vehicle lanes set up in the Toronto and Hamilton area for the Pan American Games will not become permanent, but they will likely return in the form of toll lanes.

Premier Kathleen Wynne says she wants to apply lessons learned from the HOV lanes set up this summer on the Queen Elizabeth Way, some 400-series highways, the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway to creating toll lanes.

Wynne says the Liberals have made it clear they intend to create toll lanes that would let motorists without any passengers pay to use HOV lanes normally reserved for vehicles with at least one passenger.

She says money from new toll lanes would be an important source of revenue to help fund the Liberals $130-billion, 10-year transit and infrastructure plan.

Toronto Mayor John Tory says the city must eventually decide whether to toll lanes on the municipally governed Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway, but the 235 kilometres of temporary HOV lanes will be removed after the Games end in August.

Tory says the city will wait until the province decides where its new toll lanes will go so the two governments could create what he calls a sensible network for drivers.

"The province will make its decision, as we obviously have some decisions to make with respect to roads that are in our
jurisdiction, but it should be based on the facts and based on the experience," he said. "I haven't heard any announcement from the government of Ontario on the when, where and how, but I'm mindful there was a commitment so it should be no surprise to anybody."

Tory said he'd heard that some of the temporary HOV lanes were not getting enough use, but Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca said "they've been very successful."

The Canadian Taxpayers' Federation called the proposal for permanent toll lanes on some Ontario highways "nothing more than a money grab" and said Wynne should "get her hands out of drivers' pockets."