Brian Rudman: A kamikaze mayor for whom the tolling tolls

And here was I thinking that Auckland Mayor Dick Hubbard had his heart set on another term in office. Then up he pops yesterday announcing he's off to Wellington on a kamikaze mission to plead with the Government to impose special, Auckland-only road tolls.

Egging him on are those wily old political hands, Manukau Mayor Barry Curtis and Waitakere's Bob Harvey, only too happy, I suspect, to let eager muggins new chum lead the charge into oblivion.

If I was off to the Government about Auckland's perennial transport problems, my message to Labour would be to keep last year's pre-election promises to sort them out over the next 10 years. I wouldn't be fronting up just four months later saying, "Don't worry, we never expected you to keep your word. Tell you what, we'll let you off the hook. We Aucklanders are happy to pay more taxes for our roads and buses than anyone else in the country."

I'd be waving last year's general election statistics showing that increased voter turnout in working-class areas of southern Auckland City and Manukau City saved Labour's bacon, and demanding that the Government repaid this debt.

The most outrageous aspect of this mayoral initiative is that it comes with no mandate.

At the December 2 meeting of the regional mayoral coven, it was resolved to urgently meet Government ministers "to discuss transport funding solutions, including providing Auckland with the power to raise revenue locally, including the ability to charge for the use of existing roads."

The key word was "discuss" and even that was too much for North Shore Mayor George Wood, who asked for his opposition to be noted. Regional council chairman Mike Lee, who was not present, yesterday also spoke out against it.

On December 15, the Auckland City Council voted in support of an "investigation"of the proposal.

Neither resolution gives Mayor Hubbard the authority he seems to have assumed to seek special tolling rights to pay for Auckland transport solutions. He certainly has no mandate from the public. We have been left totally out of this loop, something which I hope Government ministers are quick to pick up on.

Mr Wood got it right yesterday when he said "ministers are dragging their feet on plugging the funding gap to address Auckland's transport woes", and said Aucklanders deserved to be treated better than be subjected to the "desperate cash-grab" proposed by Hubbard and friends, which would have "major social and economic consequences for them".

Criticising the lack of debate, he said, "The least we should do is ask them [the community] about tolling before further charges are imposed."

As I gather it, the three mayors see tolling of existing as well as new roads as a way of getting additional cash to speed the building of new roads, both local and state highways, and for the faster development of public transport.

Apart from the iniquity of expecting Auckland to pay more taxes for transport infrastructure than the rest of the country, my biggest objection to tolling as a general revenue-collecting device is its gross inefficiency.

As I've written before, Cabinet papers released last July revealed that an electronic tolling system to pay for the Orewa to Puhoi motorway would need on-going operating subsidies, with $1.35 of the $1.80 proposed toll gobbled up in administration.

Establishing a network-wide tolling system in Auckland would cost $53.5 million. Cars would have to carry an electronic transponder so that toll-gates could register the journey.

In addition, a network of cameras would have to be installed to photograph the numberplates of cars without transponders.

A huge bureaucracy would be needed to post out bills and chase up the defiant or forgetful.

Of course, there already is an efficient system of tolling in place and that's the fuel tax. It's more democratic than tolling in that it gets everyone using the road system, not just those unlucky enough to choose to, or have to, travel past a toll gate.

The problem, for the politicians, with Auckland-only tolls is they are too transparent.

They would be a constant reminder that the Government expects Aucklanders to pay more for their roads and railways than Wellingtonians and Dunedinites, and that Mr Hubbard and his allies think this is a good thing.

I wonder about their retirement plans ...