VICTORIA — Metro Vancouver mayors have started urgently researching road pricing as a potential source of much-needed transit revenue. But the B.C. government is warning that any scheme to toll roads, area travel or bridges will trigger another transit referendum.

The Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation voted late last week to get a staff report as quickly as possible on how to advance “mobility pricing”, in the wake of the public rejection of a transit tax in the July plebiscite.

Mobility pricing can include tolling highways and bridges, or charging drivers based on distance or road usage. Mayors have debated its potential merits for years as a way to cut congestion and generate new funds.

It’s a complex and interesting idea, said TransLink Minister Peter Fassbender. But mayors won’t be allowed to implement it unless they get permission from voters in another referendum, because it’s a new funding source that is not already approved by current legislation, he said.

“Mobility pricing is not in legislation,” said Fassbender. “I clearly said to the mayors that legislation requires a referendum for any new funding source, period.”

The mayors of Vancouver and Surrey said Monday they have no desire to plunge into another transit referendum. Yet they and their regional counterparts are wrestling with ways to generate billions in local transit funding for projects like Surrey light rail, Vancouver’s Broadway subway line and a replacement for the Pattullo Bridge.

The federal and provincial governments have each promised one-third funding for the $2.1-billion Surrey rapid transit project, putting pressure on the mayors to find a way to finance their share.

The mayors said they intend to do the research on what road pricing might look like, and the revenue it might generate, anyway.

“I don’t think there’s an appetite for another referendum,” said Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner.

“Quite frankly, we’ve been talking about mobility pricing as many as six years ago. Had we done our research, we’d be in a much better position now to say we’ve done all that work. Right now, we haven’t even started.”

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said B.C. can’t afford to lose out on funding promises by federal parties because of provincial delays.

“We don’t hold referenda for crucial needs such as hospitals or schools, and there haven’t been referenda on new highways or bridges, so mayors across the region have been clear that the province shouldn’t be holding referenda on urgently needed transit investments either,” Robertson said in a statement.

Fassbender met with mayors behind closed doors last Thursday. He said he told the mayors they should better cooperate with TransLink’s board of directors, and work with the province to restore public trust in the transit organization.

“If public confidence can be built, then I think the issue of another plebiscite or referendum may be done in a totally different environment than the last one was,” said Fassbender.

The mayors are welcome to raise property taxes or implement a vehicle levy to raise money, said Fassbender. But the mayors have previously shied away from both sources.

Another transit referendum would be “suicidal” for mayors, said Gordon Price, City Program director at Simon Fraser University.

“If they have to go back to a referendum, that’s effectively the end of transit planning for at least a decade,” he said. There is no way to convince voters in a referendum that a complex road pricing mobility scheme would be fair, he said.

NDP critic George Heyman said the provincial government should review its bridge tolling policy in conjunction with mayor research on road pricing, so local residents know what costs to expect in the future.

The mayors said they hope to come out with a report by December. Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore has said mayors must restore trust in TransLink before they can sell the public on any plans for mobility pricing.

rshaw@vancouversun.com