The toll that isn't there

Ask a Vancouverite of a certain age how to get to Langley and you may still hear a route designed to avoid the bridge toll. It made sense once. The Port Mann Bridge on Highway 1 and the Golden Ears Bridge further upstream both charged tolls until the province announced their removal in August 2017. The change took effect on Friday, 1 September 2017, in time for the Labour Day weekend.

The provincial release at the time said about 121,000 vehicles crossed the Port Mann each day, with another 40,000 on the Golden Ears, and estimated that regular commuters would save an average of $1,500 a year. Those numbers matter less to a weekend visitor than the simple fact: whichever bridge Google picks for you today, you will not pay to cross it.

What actually costs you time

Traffic. The same release noted that the tolls had pushed drivers onto other corridors; removing them did the reverse. Highway 1 east of the Port Mann is busy on weekday afternoons and on Friday evenings, and Fraser Highway itself is a busy arterial through Surrey and into Langley City. The hotel's own estimate of an hour from YVR assumes a reasonable day.

• Arrive mid-afternoon. Check-in starts at 3 pm, which happens to be before the worst of the evening peak.
• On Sundays, brunch at 11 am and a noon checkout put you back on the road before the late-afternoon return.
• If you are coming from the south or the valley, you may not cross a bridge at all. That is the quiet advantage of a Langley base.

Parking is the other saving

The Coast Langley City Hotel says it offers free parking to all hotel and convention centre guests. Over a two-night stay that is a real saving, and more reliable than any toll-dodging route ever was.

Source: BC government news release, 2017PREM0073-001480; Coast FAQ. Checked 15 November 2026.