KEY POINTS:
Auckland motorists represented by the AA have supported the region's local bodies in opposing tolls on the Western Ring Route.
North Shore City Council also yesterday rejected Transit NZ's proposal to plug an $800 million-plus funding gap with a 35-year tolling scheme, reinforcing similar decisions of Auckland and Waitakere cities and the Auckland Regional Land Transport Committee.
Neither can Transit count on support from a vote next week by Manukau City, where Mayor Sir Barry Curtis has indicated a preference for a regional fuel tax to pay for completion of the 48km route between his territory and Albany by 2015.
Of 2651 AA members who responded to an email poll, almost twice as many indicated opposition to Transit's proposal as those in support.
Although only just over half - or 50.6 per cent - were opposed to tolls, they eclipsed 27.9 per cent who indicated support. The remaining 21.5 per cent were unsure or did not care either way.
But a regional petrol tax of a theoretical 10c a litre, which would raise about $100 million a year from motorists throughout Auckland - and not just on the western route - proved even less popular than tolls.
Most poll participants said they wanted the Government to stump up for the full cost of the route - beyond the $1.3 billion it has already pledged for unbuilt sections - from its healthy surplus or from general taxation.
Transit chief executive Rick van Barneveld said his organisation had received 20,000 individual submissions and would not be in a position to comment before being able to analyse all responses from seven weeks of consultations closing on Monday. "If there is sufficient in-principle support for tolling to bring forward the opening of the Western Ring Route, we are committed to ongoing work with stakeholders to develop a toll scheme that offers real benefits, flexibility and choice," he said.
"Payment for quick trips to help fund a big new road earlier and increase encouragement for buses, trains and ferries was always going to be contentious."
AA spokesman Simon Lambourne said Transport Minister Annette King was legally obliged to take into account the results of Transit's consultation, "and there is simply not enough support in Auckland for tolls".
That was reinforced by North Shore City councillors, who voted unanimously to deny support for the tolling proposal at this stage, in the absence of more information from Transit. They feared local roads would be overloaded with toll-dodging drivers.
Councillor Kevin Schwass said: "Let's tell Transit where they can put their tolling - a third of the country's people live in this region and with all the GST and petrol tax we pay, it's a cheek to try to get us to pay more for our roading."
