The City of Winnipeg’s Transportation Master Plan and Climate Action Plan indicate that we need to reduce our drive-alone mode share to 50% to meet our goals. Winnipeg’s current driving mode share is about 80%.

It’s become clear, based on surveys in Winnipeg and similar cities, that Winnipeggers are driving not because it’s their ideal travel mode, but because they believe they have “no choice” but to drive based on the lack of convenient, comfortable options. Green Action Centre summarized these numbers in 2023. The City of Winnipeg should look at Transportation Demand Management (TDM) strategies instead of road widenings, as TDM is more affordable and offers more transportation choice to residents.

TDM is defined as the application of strategies and policies to increase the efficiency of transportation systems, that reduce travel demand, or to redistribute this demand in space or in time. To date, the City of Winnipeg has done very little work in areas of TDM. Instead, we have overbuilt our car infrastructure to accommodate peak travel times. The result is that we can never build enough infrastructure to meet that induced demand. Outside of peak travel times, we leave a hostile environment for everyone outside of the personal vehicle (barren parking lots, wide roads that encourage speeding, long walks between destinations, etc).

Riley Black examined this quandary in his report for the CCPA, titled The High Cost of Free-Riding and How We Fix It. In this paper, Mr. Black notes:

• The financial burden for this road infrastructure is born by Winnipeg taxpayers for the benefit of those who live outside of city limits.
• The average household income is far lower in Winnipeg ($68,402) vs metropolitan communities ($86,912 in St. Clements, $130,534 in East St. Paul, for example).
• Those living in exurban communities have a lower property tax rate than those within the City of Winnipeg.

This begs the question: why should Winnipeg taxpayers pay for infrastructure that only encourages people to live further away (outside the tax base) and drive in?

The High Cost of Free-Riding and How We Fix It presents a compelling case for the need to bring a commuter fee to Winnipeg. Commuter fees are a critical tool in the tool-belt of Transportation Demand Management.

Instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars to widen Kenaston (and don’t forget about the increased annual operating expenses for the new infrastructure), we should instead be investing in the infrastructure that encourages more healthy, sustainable trips. Better transit, safe neighbourhood streets, connected walking and biking networks, and ride sharing. Aside from these ‘carrots’ to encourage sustainable travel, Winnipeg—like other cities across North America—needs to study what tools to use to discourage those who work and regularly use Winnipeg services, from living outside of the Winnipeg region. A commuter fee for vehicles driving into and out of the city multiple times a week is a good tool to discourage driving while raising funds to further improve Winnipeg’s transportation system.