According to the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association, the hike will eventually be passed on to the customer.
The Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association was taken aback by a toll increase on the Confederation Bridge in 2022. (APTA).
Strait Crossing Bridge Ltd. announced fee hikes for the coming year on Monday.
However, after receiving no raise last year due to low inflation rates, APTA executive director Jean-Marc Picard said the organisation was expecting a break this year as well.
“Everything in the trucking industry has been going up recently, including gasoline, insurance, and equipment,” Picard said.
“This is just another thing we’ll have to absorb or pass on to customers, but we’re assuming the latter.”
There are also many who believe the bridge toll should be lower than it is now.
Quebec citizens do not pay a toll on the federally owned Champlain Bridge in Montreal, according to P.E.I. Senator Percy Downe, who has been advocating on this subject in Ottawa for years.
He wants the cost of crossing the Confederation Bridge and the N.S.-P.E.I. ferry to be reduced.
“Both bridges are owned by the Canadian government; one is free, and we’re paying more than $50,” Downe explained.
Premier Dennis King of Prince Edward Island says he is concerned about the rising expense of getting to the mainland for Islanders.
“I’m not sure what we can do here,” King replied, “but it’s becoming a challenge and an obstruction here, and I’d want to find a way for it to come down or be removed, but I’m not sure how to accomplish that.”
Meanwhile, COVID-19 travel limitations reduced bridge to traffic in 2021, according to Michel Le Chasseur, general manager of Strait Crossing Bridge Ltd.
“This year’s commercial traffic was actually higher than last year’s. Having said that, we now have the potato problem, where the US border is blocked, which has had a significant impact on bridge traffic in the last three weeks.”
With increased travel limitations as a result of COVID-19, Le Chasseur anticipates another difficult year in 2022.
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