The end of an era

“I’ll take a bag of 20 tokens, kind Sir.”

“Coming right up.”

That interaction, between my dad, dressed in his business suit and driving large blue Caprice Classic, and a Bridge Commissionaire in his navy blue uniform, is one of the core memories of my childhood for the number of times I witnessed it in the 1970s and ’80s. My dad would pay, and the Commissionaire would hand him a clear baggie of tokens—smaller in diameter than a dime but as thick as a nickel and gold in colour. Sometimes, if Dad was completely out of his stash, he would rush to rip open the bag resulting in an explosion of coins. But it was worth it, because paying by token was cheaper than paying cash.

This month, the province is taking over the Halifax Harbour Bridges and eliminating the $1.25 per crossing toll ($1 if you have a MacPass), allowing Premier Tim Houston to put a ticky in the ticky box next to the election promise he made last fall. But the news has received a mixed response. Commuters are rejoicing they can ditch their MacPass transponders—that enable automatic electronic payment—and its monthly bill or look forward to not scrambling last minute for coins. On the flip side, there are already concerns about where the province is going to get the money for the next inevitable bridge maintenance project, or gasp, reconstruction now that toll revenue stream is gone. The Macdonald Bridge makeover in 2015, coined The Big Lift, cost $150 million.

Growing up, my parents referred to the two green and orange suspension bridges that define our harbour city skyline as the old bridge and the new bridge due to their construction in 1955 and 1970, respectively. I was in my late 20s before I used the official names. Like countless others I’m sure, my trick to remembering the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge (aka the old bridge) was closer to downtown was its proximity to the McDonald’s—yes, the burger joint—on the Dartmouth side. And the A. Murray MacKay (the new bridge) was always a favourite for the highway drivers. My first vehicle was a scooter, so I learned to avoid the new bridge’s windier conditions for fear—rational or not–of being blown over low side rails.

Reducing traffic jams are the motivation for most bridge upgrades. As a young athlete training at the Dartmouth Sportsplex, we often had to run across and back the Macdonald Bridge sidewalk at peak rush hour back when it was one direction each way. Because of the bottleneck at the toll booths, I remember passing dozens of cars as they sat motionless, suspended over the harbour, in the hot sun. In 1999, we saw the Macdonald Bridge add a third car lane and a bike lane, another costly project, but successful in reducing backups. With the elimination of the toll booths, the bridges could potentially see better traffic flow, but vehicles crossing both bridges still need to funnel in from various approaches.

The 2025-2026 provincial budget claims the province will add an additional $300 million to our existing $22.4 billion debt because of this decision. It’s hard to see the rationale and how, as the premier says, “it will save time and money” in the future, even though the Halifax Harbour Bridges website states the bridges, “support more than $120 million of economic activity annually.” The money—for painting, repairs, resurfacing, accident response—needs to come from somewhere and saving a buck at the bridge won’t make me feel richer. Perhaps it’s because my buddies from Yarmouth and Truro will be helping us city folks foot more of the bill going forward.

I never thought I’d find myself waxing poetic for the bridge tolls, but after thousands of crossings it’s amazing how many memories I have. Like the time my brother came home to Nova Scotia for a visit shortly after our mom got her MacPass 25 years ago.

“She hit the gas and scared the crap out of me,” he said, fearing they would ram the toll booth gate barrier when she didn’t slow down to drop a coin in the basket. “She thought it was the funniest thing ever.”

This article appears in Mar 1-31, 2025.