Island man creates petition to lower bridge tolls

P.E.I. resident Jonathan Viau has created a petition to lower the cost of crossing the Confederation Bridge for those who are just dropping off or picking up family members, something bridge officials say is already in the works.

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"My wish, my dream, would be for it to be free," Viau said. 

Viau shares custody of his three-year-old son with the boy's mother, who lives in New Brunswick.

Sometimes I go without food in my fridge so that I can see him, because of the cost of the bridge.— Jonathan Viau

"So there's of travel back and forth between New Brunswick and here," Viau explained. 

"Most times, we just meet at the bridge, and I'll drive across and pick him up."

Viau makes the same trip again when he returns the child to his mother. 

Viau has tried to use the shuttle service the bridge provides — it costs just $4.25 per person, according to the bridge website — but said his son usually has more than the limit of two pieces of luggage, so they've been rejected service.

"Forty-six-dollars both times adds up over the year. And sometimes, I'm doing it more than once a month," he said, estimating he spends more than $1,500 a year crossing the bridge.

"That's huge, because I'm a low-income person," he said. "Every dollar I could save makes a huge difference, especially when I could put it towards stuff for him."

'Already in the pipes'

A self-serve shuttle service is "already in the pipes" said Strait Crossing Bridge Ltd. manager Michel LeChasseur Thursday. It's an idea that came out of a customer survey in 2015. 

SCBL is finalizing the details with Transport Canada, and expects to make an announcement in the next month, he said.

"We're looking at a system like that — you don't have to wait, you can deliver your son or daughter to the other side and come back and it will not be the toll rate for the two-axle, it will be a lower rate," LeChasseur said, adding many students who come home to P.E.I. from university on Fridays and return on Sundays are in the same situation.

That rate is one of the main details still under discussion with Transport Canada, as well as exactly how it would work. 

"You'll get a time ticket, you'll have to be back by so many minutes," LeChasseur explained.

'Huge stress relief''

The news delights Viau.

"I could travel more, maybe see him more often, so it'd just be a huge stress relief," said Viau. 

"Sometimes I go without food in my fridge so that I can see him, because of the cost of the bridge."

Nearly 150 people from several provinces had signed the petition as of Thursday evening.   

The new self-serve shuttle service would not cancel the current regular shuttle service, bridge officials said. It would be only for people, and not for consumer goods.

There are no definite plans in works to accommodate patients who must travel for medical reasons, although "it's sort of percolating in the background," said LeChasseur.