British Columbia’s Transportation and Transit Minister Mike Farnworth told a Surrey business crowd on March 18 that there will be no road pricing on his watch.
Road pricing involves charging motorists for using roads through tolls, or fees based on distance or time travelled, or imposing a congestion levy.
Mike Farnworth was the guest speaker, focusing on transportation and networks and infrastructure for Surrey, White Rock and the surrounding region during a luncheon at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel hosted by the Surrey & White Rock Board of Trade.
The board’s CEO, Joslyn Young, asked him how the provincial government will pay for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) up and down King George Boulevard.
Farnworth replied it’s a top priority for the provincial government and TransLink, with the government having signed a $329 million agreement to deal with the operating deficit over the next three years.
The government, he said, has committed to a new funding “mechanism” to be in place in 2027 that will not include road-pricing.
He said he couldn’t elaborate on the tool. “The ministry is working on that.”
“I can tell you one thing,” Farnworth vowed, “it will not be road-pricing. I often get asked oh, are you going to do road-pricing? And the answer is no, we are not.”