KEY POINTS:
Which part of "no to road pricing" do Transport Minister Annette King and her bureaucrats not understand? Despite overwhelming opposition from Aucklanders to curing road congestion by pricing the poor out of their cars and into public transport, the Government is continuing to research the concept.
Mrs King, a former dental nurse, sees it as a necessary spoonful of cod liver oil. Something to make Auckland traffic flow more smoothly, even if the patient doesn't appreciate its benefits to begin with.
As you may recall, the ministry finished an Auckland road pricing evaluation study last year. Road pricing is the concept of charging to use existing roads, principally as a device to ease congestion and/or raise revenue. This is in contrast to tolling, which is a way to pay for new roads.
Last week, after sitting on the negative results for months, the Government decided to carry on regardless with this "research" project. In phase two, the ministry will try to win our hearts and minds with a charm offensive aimed specifically at local authorities.
A memo from Secretary for Transport Alan Thompson to the minister dated December 13, 2006, emphasises the need for "building broad local support and understanding". He notes: "Scottish officials believe a reason behind the failure to gain a positive referendum result for Edinburgh was a failure to build relationships and buy-in with surrounding local authorities."
Cozying up to local authorities may also have something to do with the fact that of the 800-plus respondents to the ministry's road pricing proposals, Auckland local government was, on the whole, supportive, whereas individual ratepayers were strongly against.
The need to woo local government may also have something to do with Mrs King's demand that officials further investigate the revenue possibilities of road funding.
Reporting to the Cabinet last September 5, the new minister said the road pricing study she inherited had concentrated on congestion reduction at the expense of "revenue potential". She said: "I would like officials to also develop information on a revenue-focused scheme with the aim of funding significant projects in the Auckland region."
Undoubtedly, the prospect of more cash for infrastructure will be a powerful pheromone to local government politicians and their bureaucratic masters. But it's likely to inflame individual Aucklanders even more. For years this region has received less than its proportionate share of national road and transport funding. Under this Government the gap has narrowed, for which we are duly grateful. But introducing road pricing as a revenue tool will resurrect the funding injustices the Government has been trying to eliminate.
The just-released analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers of the submissions to the Auckland road pricing study has a rather plaintive ring. "The ministry posed four questions in its discussion document [but] on the whole, these questions have not been specifically addressed. Submitters have chosen to respond to the concept of road pricing generally." Naughty, naughty.
Despite this inability to stick to the script, Aucklanders made their feelings plain. The report noted "a strong level of opposition [approximately 75 per cent] to the concept of road pricing as a means of addressing Auckland's traffic problems" and "very limited unconditional support". It found "fundamental opposition" to the idea of charging for what is viewed as a "free public good", and an objection to paying twice to use existing publicly funded roads.
In her September report to the Cabinet, Mrs King conceded road pricing was not a priority "in the short term" but "in the longer term [it] should be seen as a complement to initiatives such as additional infrastructure and public transport and encouraging individuals to more fully consider their transport choices. To this end it is important that work be undertaken to signal that road pricing may be needed in the future..."
Exactly why this needs to be signalled I'm not sure. If it's not a priority, why waste time and public money trying to convert Aucklanders into believing in something that Mrs King as good as admits is not going to happen, in this Government's lifetime at least.
Wouldn't it be more useful to concentrate on electrifying the trains instead?
