Nearly half of Toronto-area residents believe the region needs new funding to tackle the crippling road congestion that sucks $6 billion a year out of the economy.

More than two-thirds, 71 per cent, say they’re fed up with the traffic that has them gripping the steering wheel or sitting on the bus longer than commuters in nearly every other North American city.

But a Forum Research poll for CivicAction suggests the region is still split on where the money should come from.

Fifty-two per cent of respondents indicated it was “unfair” to ask residents to contribute to the Big Move, Metrolinx’s regional transportation plan. Only 39 per cent said it was “fair” to ask residents to pay.

The results show that there’s room for more education, said CivicAction CEO Mitzie Hunter.

“We need to continue to build more awareness about the Big Move and the fact that there is a vision for improving the transportation system — the whole system, road users, transit users and those who are active users. We need to talk about that, because we know there’s a tremendous amount of frustration,” she said.

The poll comes in the midst of a heated discussion about how the Toronto region will find $2 billion a year to pump into the expanded transit network the Big Move prescribes.

Metrolinx has already released a short list of 11 taxes and tolls that would more than cover the bill. They include sales and gas tax, an employer payroll tax and commercial parking levy. Final recommendations go to the province in June.

CivicAction, an alliance of community leaders from the business and non-profit sectors, has been running a campaign called “What Would You Do with 32?” “What Would You Do with 32?” That’s the number of minutes by which the average Toronto-region commute is expected to grow as the population rises by about 100,000 people a year over the next 25 years — unless a massive transit expansion moves ahead.

“People are absolutely fed up. They recognize as well that time is money and this congestion is costing the region already in lost productivity — and this is only going to get worse. Voters are looking for real solutions and they expect everyone to act,” said Hunter.

The CivicAction campaign shows the toll commuting takes, she said.

One woman said that if her commute were shorter she would eat dinner sitting down instead of standing at the kitchen counter. Another woman spent 2.5 hours on transit one way to work.

Older residents and those with higher household incomes were most likely to believe new sources of transit revenue are needed. Geographically, respondents from Toronto and Halton Region were most likely to believe that new funding is needed. Residents in York and Peel regions were least likely to agree with the need for new funding sources.

Improving quality of life and reducing the money lost to traffic congestion topped a list of reasons poll respondents gave for improving the region’s transportation system.

The interactive telephone poll of 1,491 Toronto and Hamilton area residents was conducted on March 28 and April 3. It is considered accurate within 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Previous Forum Research polls showed that more than half of region residents disapproved of Metrolinx’s short-listed taxes and tolls. A parking levy and tolled high-occupancy vehicle lanes received the most support.

Congestion poll results

71% said they were fed up with traffic congestion

39% said that “as far as they knew” the Big Move regional transportation plan will be built with existing government funds

43% said new funds would be needed

52% said it would be unfair to ask residents to contribute to the Big Move

39% said it was fair to ask residents

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26% said improving quality of life was the most important reason to improve transportation

21% said cutting the economic cost was the key reason

14% said the environmental benefit was the chief reason to cut gridlock

CivicAction and Forum Research

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