NZ Herald supports tolls
January 30th, 2006 at 8:39 am by David FarrarTo balance up all the critics of Hubbard’s plan to toll existing roads, the NZ Herald editorial today praises the plan and says road tolling takes political courage.
Again this of course reminds me of the old Yes Minister episodes when telling the Minister that such a decision or policy is courageuous, is guaranteed to have the Minister do a 180 degree u-turn.
The NZ Herald talks of its support for tolls generally but doesn’t distinguish between tolls on existing roads and tolls on new roads. There is a difference and reading the editorial one would have no idea that the Hubbard plan is about existing roads as well as new roads.
I personally believe the future will involve electronic tolls on major roads and that this will over time replace petrol tax as the primary source of funds for new roads. User pays basically. What I want to avoid is where you are paying both petrol tax and tolls for the same road.
Tags: Local Body Politics
January 30th, 2006 at 9:00 am
In an ideal world, tolled roads would provide an alternative to existing roads for travel. But most people will accept that tolled roads are acceptable for new projects, even when alternative free (taxpayer funded!) routes are not availabe. What Mr Hubbard is proposing is the reintroduction of tolls on existing roads to fund new roads are are already supposed to be funded by a mixture of rates increases, existing taxes, surpluses and new taxes.
However, I should give credit where its due. This time around, Mr Hubbard is seeking a funding plan for his project prior to his grand designs, as opposed to the $700 million Aotea Square upgrade where concept plan were commissioned without a clue as to how the Mayor was going to fund the project.
Vote:January 30th, 2006 at 9:04 am
There needs to be an Auckland Roading Authority that has its own source of funding partly rates (for city streets), road taxes and tolls (mainly for large scale projects) and Government grants. It should be given wide powers toget on with the job. The Authority can be given a shelf life of ten years. Just get on with it please. Roading grid lock in Auckland is fast becoming an issue that is damaging the wider economy.
Vote:January 30th, 2006 at 9:15 am
In Singapore, there are no alternatives to certain tolled roads at certain times, which is not designed to fund new roads, but to manage traffic flow. Funding of new roads is acheived by taxing vehicles depending on age and engine size; and by limiting the number of new vehicles that may enter the national fleet, through a time-limited certificate system.
Of course this works in tandem with a pretty decent public transport network of buses and metro, which is probably why it couldn’t easily be adapted to NZ.
Vote:January 30th, 2006 at 9:31 am
Same issues apply in Wellington.
Tolling would mean projects like Transmission Gully could be fast-tracked, and there is ample evidence to show road users generally are in favour of paying tolls if it means a quicker, safer, journey.
I don’t think tolls can be justified on existing roads, unless there is a major upgrade (i.e turning a 2 lane road into a 4 lane separated highway), or some other value-added improvements to the route.
Electronic tolling is used extensively in Australia and elsewhere, and provides a better overall infrastructure.
Local governments are not very good at roading-related decision making (too many vested interests).
Scott.
Vote:January 30th, 2006 at 9:43 am
Meanwhile the Auckland City continues to give permits to parking buildings for housing 9-5 workers.
Vote:Auckland University: 700 spaces
Sky City: 500 spaces ( they have a 1200 space parking building under the casino, but apparently need more space for employees)
Vodafone and Air NZ at Viaduct harbour about 500 spaces.
Yet if you build a house without acess to a stormwater main, you have to include a retention tank so the runoff from your roof is the same as what occurs naturally from the ground underneath.
January 30th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
Tolling for new roads is allowed now in NZ – and there are virtually no roads that are viable as toll roads, as long as there is a free alternative. The reason being, the volumes of traffic are too low (the Aussie ones everyone goes on about typically have 50,000-100,000 vehicles per day – ALPURT north of Auckland has less than half of that), and the alternatives are too good outside peak times.
Scott – tolling for Transmission Gully would do next to nothing, as the likely revenue is around $15 million a year for a $1.1 billion road.
The thing is we already price all roads- it just is hidden in your petrol tax, and it prices them all the same, whether it is a congested motorway or an unsealed rural road. Where else to pay the same regardless of the level of service? If we priced flights like we priced roads it would cost somewhere between business and economy class, you would spend ages at peak times queuing for flights that were always full, and still pay the same when it was quiet.
David is right – in fact we already have a platform for road pricing in road user charges, trucks, buses and diesel cars pay by distance, weight and configuration – if all cars paid by that means (probably electronically to ensure compliance, but with prepaid smartcards that deducted the cost as you drove), people would think about their driving behaviour. Petrol could be at least 25c/l cheaper when you remove the portion of tax dedicated to land transport funding and the respective GST.
That’s the quid pro quo – either toll new infrastructure or use pricing to replace existing charges.
Vote:January 31st, 2006 at 11:24 am
The problem is history shows us that we cant trust the bastards.Give them an inch and they take a mile.They have conned us for years taking money off motorists and not spending it on the roads.So whats going to change If we let them they will toll existing roads keep increasing tax duty or what ever else they call it on fuel increase vehicle registration charges And still not spend the money collected on the roads.We are a bunch of gulible fools.What the citizerns need to do is put a figurative boot on the pollies throats and force them to start sepnding the money already collected for the purpose No excuses No weasel words.Either they do it or die.
Vote:January 31st, 2006 at 11:45 am
HAH!! DREAM ON, David.
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