BURST
This week, the government of Ontario announced a plan to remove tolls from the provincially owned Highway 407 East, a move it said is expected to save daily commuters an estimated $7,200 annually.
“To help lower costs and fight gridlock, the government is introducing legislation that would, if passed, permanently remove tolls from the provincially owned section of Highway 407, from Brock Road to Highway 35/115, effective June 1, 2025,” the province said in a press release.
“This is the last stretch of provincially owned tolled highway in Ontario and follows the government’s previous removal of tolls from Highways 412 and 418 , and its recent legislation banning new road tolls on any public roadway in Ontario,” it added.
Here’s what to know.
What is Highway 407?
Highway 407 is a 151.4-kilometre highway that crosses and encircles the GTA. It starts in Burlington in the west, passing north of Highway 401 around Mississauga, and then running roughly parallel to the 401 across Toronto and to the east, where it terminates at Highway 35/115 north of Newcastle.
Planning studies date as far back as the 1950s , but construction began in 1987, and the first section, 36 kilometres between Highways 410 and 404, was opened in 1997. The portion from Brock Road to Highway 35/115 started construction in 2012 and was fully opened in 2019.
How much does it cost now?
The highway is operated by two groups — the provincial government from Brock Road to the eastern end, and the 407 ETR Concession Company (which also handles all billing) to the west from Brock Road.
Currently, a trip from one end of the highway to the other during peak times costs $91.73, or $96.93 for drivers without a transponder. (Transponders cost $29.50 a year, before taxes.)
A trip on the provincial end of the highway alone costs $14.94 with a transponder, and a trip on the privately-owned portion is $76.78. If the government ends its tolls, that would become the cost for the entire length of the highway.
Are the savings projected by the government accurate?
If a driver makes a rush-hour trip twice a day, five days a week, on the provincial portion of the highway, the annual cost is approximately $7,200, which is what the government says drivers would save.
However, a twice-daily trip on the rest of the highway would still amount to almost $40,000 annually.
Can Ontario just buy the rest of the highway?
It could, and it’s something Ontario Premier Doug Ford has talked about in the past. The province sold the western part of the highway to the private sector in 1999.
This week, after his announcement about cutting tolls, Ford was asked if he was still considering that idea.
“They’re going to be at capacity in 10 years, and I’d never rule out acquiring it, but we also have to build capacity,” he said, adding it would cost “tens of billions of dollars.”
He added: “We should never have sold the 407.”
How will this change traffic patterns?
Time will tell, but anecdotal evidence suggests that charging people to use roads causes fewer people to use them; the “congestion charge” in London, England, is one example.
One would expect a higher number of people living near the toll-free section of the 407 to start using it instead of the 401, and that might have a small spillover effect into the still-tolled portion as well.
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