The 407 ETR is apparently a Canadian version of a speed trap! A complete rip-off! Literally highway robbery! I never even wanted to drive on this road! I was driving along the QEW towards Toronto. I was staying in the far right lane obeying the speed limit because all the Canadians were driving about 20 over! So I was driving the speed limit, and staying out of people’s way when I find my lanes leaving the QEW onto some other road. The only signs I saw for this were right at the exit, when it was too late to do anything. I was forced to drive way the hell out of my way, and it added 20 or more minutes to my trip trying to get back to the QEW. I was upset at the time about the lousy signage at this exchange.
Now to add insult to injury, I got a bill in the mail yesterday from this 407 ETR. They charged me $7.24 to drive on that piece of crap road that I never wanted to be on in the first place! Apparently ETR stands for Express Toll Route. EXPRESS? It added 20 minutes to my drive! The actual toll charge was $1.09. Then there was the "video toll charge" of $3.60! I never even saw a frigging toll booth! And the "account fee" of $2.55! Great an account for a road I never wanted to be on, and never want to drive on again!
Reading online, it sounds like this 407 ETR was bought by a private company. So they can charge whatever they frigging want to. I am wondering if there was graft and bribes to the Canadian government to make sure there was lousy signage on the QEW that would help funnel American tourists on to their rip-off road!?!?!
I still have to figure out how to pay the rip-off fee. They want me to pay in Canadian funds which would be hard with an American check. I think I can pay online via credit card. I wonder if they will charge me a "credit card fee" for paying by credit card. Maybe they will charge me a fee for having an account that I don’t want. Of course, they probably have an account closure fee! WHAT A RIP-OFF!
You are stupid, 407 is the smoothest + fastest highway in the GTA, everybody knows that, you don’t wanna pay? Don’t drive on it, it’s simple.
Comment by Alex — June 2, 2009 @ 8:42 pm
407 is a ripoff. owned by a foreign company – by now we’ve paid for it 10 times over!
its an infrastructure selloff… just like the electricity
Comment by Bob — June 16, 2009 @ 4:37 pm
There is no toll booth; there are cameras on a gantry above the on- and off-ramps that capture your license plate. That’s how they know who to bill. Renting a radio transponder (for $2.50 a month) forgoes the video toll charge. I agree the signage is less than ideal, though.
Comment by X — July 21, 2009 @ 3:53 pm
they can’t do anything to you if your american with american plates. It is a terrible policy and makes me wonder why we are trying to model our medical system after theirs. I also received a bill and will never pay. NEVER. Canada is lame anyway, except for Montreal. So since I am never going back and they don’t seem to have much room to deal with it because apparently my state still has basic freedoms I decided that their fee was too high and they way they wanted me to pay/how they went about advising me pissed me off. Bottom line, you never have to pay it, tell canada to suck it.
Comment by mikeinreality — July 22, 2009 @ 6:07 pm
“Canada is lame anyway” Why, because we don’t have as many flavours of Taco’s or Eat as much as 3 country’s? This coming from someone who elected George Bush as thier leader… I still don’t know what you guys were thinking. Yeah, we sold a road to a private company, now our province pays to police it and will even prevent you from renewing your lic. until it’s paid.
You wouldn’t have so many problems with your medical system if 3/4 of your claims werent related to obesity. Have another dingdong.
Comment by nick vanegmond — July 28, 2009 @ 10:56 pm
The 407 is great, where else can you drive on a toll highway at such speed and with so little traffic and enforcement for free? They have never sent me a bill. The fact that they are charging outrageous fees and interest, making numerous errors, using the ministry of transport to block plate renewals without due process, not addressing the issue of congestion on the 401, creating a highway for the wealthy and commercial users is typical Canadian politics. They Skydome is the same. People pay, gov’t sells to private company, taxpayers lose and users get gouged. It all fits in with Canada’s goal of changing itself into a 2nd world country.
Comment by I like it — August 7, 2009 @ 9:25 am
I am an American who has been travelling the ETR for years and recently received a *very* large bill.
In some discussions with friends (both US and Canadian) it seems that the primary enforcement for collection of ETR tolls is through “plate denial” by the MTO.
Since I do not register plates in Canada, are there any “teeth” to this bill?
Anyone know of American travellers forced to pay or meeting other repurcussions?
thanks
Comment by americanuck — August 28, 2009 @ 7:44 pm
The annual cost of renting a transponder from the good folks at 407ETR is in the vicinity of $25. The life expectancy of a transponder is supposed to be seven years but after five years they take them back, put in new batteries, and send them back out again. So over five years they have made $125 on a piece of technology that probably costs them about $40 – a pretty good ROI!
Contrast this with E-Z-PASS system in the U.S., where the transponder is free and all one has to do is deposit $25 in the kitty via a credit card. Toll charges are deducted automatically and when your balance drops below $10 they bump it back up to $25 by charging $15 to your credt card and the cycle starts all over again.
Are we getting screwed?
Comment by G.R. Smith — October 2, 2009 @ 7:31 pm
The 407 is a complete rip-off. No surprise though, something like this can only happen in Canada. Canadian’s typically complain about something like the 407 but continue to use it anyway. Canadians take it up the ass everyday. $30 roundtrip from Niagara to TO is insane! I live in Illinois and I would pay about $5 for the same trip. So, keep sipping on your $40/ case Coors light and driving on the worlds biggest rip off. You only have yourself to blame.
Comment by Dutch — March 5, 2010 @ 2:09 pm
$11.27 (CDN) to drive around 20 KM.
$11.27 (CDN) to drive back.
$10.00 ADMIN FEE.
–
$32.54 per ride.
The biggiest robbery in the world is here in Canada.
And that Alex is so funny
Comment by Spencer — June 14, 2010 @ 4:50 pm
@nick vanegmond, no Canada is lame because it is a sad attempt at America without all the money to be made. And, I have been to Canada many times and it does suck. It wants to be Europe but just doesn’t have anything besides maple syrup to offer the World.
You country is basically the mid west of the World (i.e. it sucks). People from Ohio are aware Ohio sucks, so you need learn that your place of residence also sucks. Also, I didn’t vote for Bush and don’t like fast food, however, don’t even get me started on your mentally challenged leaders or the unbelievable high fat content also found in your food. I stand by my claim, you have Montreal, nothing else, and even the people from Montreal find the rest of Canada lame. Shit, even Neil Young left Canada. Lastly, you spelled both, ‘their’ and ‘weren’t’ wrong, so perhaps you are more American than you even know.
In summation, your country is basically America’s retarded little brother. We only take you to baseball games because our mom makes us. So sit back, put back your bicycle helmet on, and eat your fucking peanuts. Just stop saying silly things, so we can stop fighting back our laughter.
Comment by mikeinreality — July 21, 2010 @ 11:32 am