Is road use subsidized in BC?

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by Rico

Me too, that said I don't think any of the studies I saw actually externalized the cost of global warming and electric cars would still contribute depending on the source of electricity. Of course if we had all electric vehicles that would also mean cars will contribute less revenue as well because no gas tax.

Here are my new wheels. I've been questioning this whole road revenue problem largely because of how much I spent on taxes importing the car. I won't be paying about $600 per year in gas taxes that I would otherwise be paying, but I paid a lot more money on the initial expense of the car which is taxed at 12%. I figure I've spent about $11,000 more getting an electric car than an equivalent gasser. So, $1320 in additional gov't revenue up front, but less long term revenue based on gas consumption.

93% of BC Hydro's power is carbon free excluding reservoir and construction emissions.

Currently EV's are a bit of a tax dodge, but it partially offsets the early adopter fee. After EVs become somewhat more mainstream Translink is going to have to redo their funding structure. Buying a car like my Volt in BC is currently a very expensive proposition. A 2014 model with the same options as mine would be $46K after the $5000 rebate. Used cars in Seattle are going for as low as $24K for a low mileage car.

[ClaytonA]

Terrific looking wheels!

I really like driving outside of urbanized areas especially in BC on roads with curves, views, and changes in elevation; it's fun. A boring straight 4 lane road as you'd see on the prairies is just a means to an end, never mind rush hour traffic.

With EV's and other technologies you're all correct, they'll have to come up with another usage-based way of getting revenue to pay for the road system. A simple one would be having to report your mileage to ICBC when you renew your insurance, transfer a vehicle's ownership, etc and paying a set amount per kilometer. This still doesn't mitigate traffic congestion (or the transportation system's reliability and safety) though like public transit does. When all forms of transportation are subsidized, it feels a little onerous subsidizing the people living in Chilliwack and commuting into Richmond 5 days a week. The world's not perfect.

Another angle on this is the provincial budget (pg 23 and 36).
http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2013/sp/pdf/ministry/tran.pdf

By pg 36 the subsidy is 40% on an operating basis.
The provincial fuel tax is 6.75 cents/L and stripping out amortization (saving to repair/replace the transportation system) makes the cashflow almost balance.

By pg 23 the subsidy is 52% based on an operating and capital investment basis. Note these revenues also include BC Rail revenue, federal public transit grants, and a federal subsidy of BC Ferries (ie the subsidy is actually higher than 52%). It's also notable that the revenue at $250,669 is less than Hwy Operation Expenses of $461,881; revenues don't cover Hwy Operations by themselves at the provincial level.

Also re ICBC, it's not even in the billions -

The majority of the Ministry’s revenue comes from the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia ($226 million in 2013/14...