Premier Wynne has announced that HOV lanes will soon become toll lanes. Driver-only cars will be able to skirt the HOV requirement for multiple passengers by paying. This concept will be called HOT. That cute name is said to stand for “high-occupancy lane tolls” although it might seem a misnomer. Never mind. In this era of provincial debt that is scaring the pants of mere mortal credit rating wonks, the Cabinet is forging ahead with new and unique methods of “revenue.” The news conference at which this arose did not generate questions about the government’s pledge to remove the HOV lanes slapped onto the Gardiner and Don Valley Parkway for the Pan Am Games. Does that still apply? The closest the Premier got to straight talk was this quote from the Star: “Whether the configurations that have been put in place on provincial roads for the Pan Am Games are exactly what will transpire when we put in place the HOT lanes, that’s not our plan at this moment,” she told reporters after the meeting with Mayor John Tory.
PLEASE DON’T SCREW US AROUND
The Star noted that Mayor Tory had to listen quietly to this bolt from the blue. He later said. “If there’s any frustration that I’ve heard, it’s that the HOV lanes during Pan Am have been underutilized … the lesson for us all now is to take lessons,” the Star quotes his worship. Translation? In Bulldog parlance that’s “please don’t screw us around like this Premier.” BNN
