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Call for transit gas tax increase wins support from municipalities

Politicians in all but one Greater Victoria municipality — Metchosin — have endorsed a two-cents-per-litre gas tax increase to support public transit expansion.
Gasoline stations - photo
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Politicians in all but one Greater Victoria municipality — Metchosin — have endorsed a two-cents-per-litre gas tax increase to support public transit expansion.

The Greater Victoria Transit Commission gathered the endorsements after hearing from the province that it needed to demonstrate broad local support, said Susan Brice, chairwoman of the Victoria Regional Transit Commission.

It has submitted the endorsements to the Ministry of Transportation and Ministry of Finance.

“While nobody likes any level of tax increase, given the options, I think generally people have come to a place of saying this is the most suitable,” Brice said.

The funds would be used to expand both HandyDART and conventional bus service.

“We know there are areas in the region that are underserviced. Certainly, in parts of the West Shore and Peninsula, and even within the core area, service is absolutely stressed,” she said.

“In order to achieve efficiencies in the last few years, we’ve had to take some buses off traditional routes to feed them into heavy service areas” such as University of Victoria.

The last gas tax increase occurred in 2008, when it rose to 3.5 cents per litre from 2.5 cents. The tax generates about $11.7 million annually.

An increase of two cents per litre, to 5.5 cents, would raise more than $6.8 million a year.

The transit commission said it has the support of 12 capital region municipalities, the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce and cycling groups.

Metchosin was the only municipality to decline.

Mayor John Ranns said a gas tax would unfairly burden rural drivers for a service that primarily serves urban residents.

“It’s like taxation without representation,” he said.

He said he has watched the Capital Regional District throw money at B.C. Transit without seeing any meaningful change in ridership.

And most importantly, he said, residents don’t want to pay more tax for transit.

“Our job is to represent the public,” Ranns said. “Every study ever done has said they don’t want more on the gas tax. Every five years, the CRD does this transit study and 90 per cent of the people in this region want to drive their cars.”

View Royal Mayor David Screech said the region needs to plan for longer-term possibilities such as an express lane to the West Shore, rapid transit and light-rail transit.

“We feel that investment in transit is a very necessary item as we move forward,” he said. “We do feel the province should allow this.”

asmart@timescolonist.com