Unlocking North Vancouver History

Building a Vancouver Icon: The Lions Gate Bridge

Lions Gate Bridge Car Ticket

Since the Lions Gate Bridge had been privately built, commuters paid a toll to the First Narrows Bridge Company to repay investors. A weekly auto ticket cost $1.25; pedestrians paid 7.5 cents per crossing and cars 25 cents (plus 5 cents per extra passenger). Reeve Joseph B. Leyland of West Vancouver bought the first ticket and Vancouver Mayor George C. Miller the second one. The toll booths and administration building, designed by local architectural firm Palmer & Bow, were located at the north end of the bridge. Palmer & Bow also designed bridge entrepreneur A. J. T. Taylor’s lavish West Vancouver home, Kew House. By 1952 the debt to investors had been repaid and the Province of British Columbia bought the span for $6 million three years later. The government continued to collect tolls through the British Columbia Toll Bridges Authority until 1963. As a result, local commuters ended up paying for the bridge twice.

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WHAT
This weekly toll ticket was used by a commuter to cross the brand-new Lions Gate Bridge.

WHERE
Commuters had to stop and pay at the toll booths, which were located at the bridge’s north end off, Marine Drive.

WHEN
The first auto tickets went on sale on November 14, 1938.

WHO
Initially the First Narrows Bridge Company collected the toll. After the province bought the bridge in 1955, the British Columbia Toll Bridges Authority collected it.

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