The new Golden Ears Bridge is the first Lower Mainland bridge to have tolls since the 1960s. (CBC)

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson says tolls on major highways and bridges in the Lower Mainland could be the key to TransLink's funding crunch.

TransLink, which operates public transit on B.C.'s South Coast, needs an additional $450 million per year to fund ambitious improvements to the region's transit system, or $130 million just to maintain the status quo.

At the end of October, the Lower Mainland's mayors will be asked to decide how that money should be raised.

That has Robertson openly talking about tolls on major roadways, including the Iron Worker's Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, a bridge connecting Vancouver and the North Shore

Robertson is also eyeing the Knight Street Bridge in Vancouver and the newly upgraded Sea to Sky Highway, which is the primary route between Vancouver and 2010 Olympic sites in Whistler.

Robertson said the idea is a user-pay system, even if it's to maintain a structure that was built years ago.

"We have paid for the roads, but that's come out of general revenue in past," he said.

"The question is, do we move to a more user pay system, a fee-based system that spreads that throughout all of the users of the transportation network?"

The new Golden Ears Bridge connecting Langley and Maple Ridge, which opened in June 2009, is the first toll bridge in the Lower Mainland since they were removed in the 1960s.

A new 10-lane bridge that will replace the existing Port Mann Bridge, expected to be completed in 2013, will also be tolled.

In an unusual move, Coun. Suzanne Anton, the only Non-Partisan Association councillor on Vancouver's Vision-dominated council, agrees with Robertson.

"If we start tolling, my own preference would be to think about a more general toll rather than picking on certain facilities," she said.

Delta Mayor Lois Jackson, who is also the chair of the Metro Vancouver board, said all users, especially property renters and visitors, should carry more of the transit bill.

"There's so many people on our roads that pay nothing, and it's not fair that the property tax owner that maybe doesn't even use the system gets to pay the whole shot," she said.

However, the input of Lower Mainland politicians could be irrelevant.

CBC News spoke with Transportation Minister Shirley Bond on Friday, who said it's not helpful to suggest tolling specific structures so early in the discussion.

Bond said property taxes would continue to be the first line of revenue.

When asked to respond, Jackson said Bond is from Prince George, in central B.C., and maybe doesn't understand the concerns of the Lower Mainland.