Editorial: Tolls the best route to move ahead

Transit NZ has bitten the bullet on road tolling with its proposal to make motorists pay directly for Auckland's long-awaited western ring road, in effect its second motorway.

The proposal depends on broad public acceptance which Transit must establish from responses to mailed information, from public meetings it will conduct and ultimately from hearings before an independent panel.

If tolls are accepted for a motorway of such importance, it will probably be the breakthrough for a much wider application of the user-pays principle to national roads. For that reason, the proposal will be hotly opposed not only by likely users but also by those opposed to the principle of user-pays for anything the state provides.

This group will never be persuaded to accept road tolls but their arguments must be answered.

First, they will say tolls are "inefficient" because the electronics required to record car registration numbers and the administration of billing will cost about half the likely revenue collected.

That is not a bad cost-benefit ratio, but even if the costs consume much more of the tolls, it needs to be remembered that the social and economic benefits of faster travel go far beyond the revenue collected. The cost of congestion to the economy and to individuals may be hard to measure precisely but it is real.

Next, the opponents will say tolls are socially inequitable, favouring "the rich" over those who supposedly cannot afford to pay. The tolls Transit proposes would range from 75c to $1.50 at seven recording points between Albany and Manukau. The entire route would cost $7, hardly beyond the means of anyone in a hurry. Transit can probably cite experience overseas that those who take most advantage of toll roads prove to be not the rich and leisured but tradesmen and others whose time is precious.

Then, opponents will contend that tolls are unfair to everybody because we pay taxes to provide the roads we need. We pay taxes to provide many things in common, from highways to hospitals, and we have to let public officials decide the priorities. Even with all petrol taxes now destined for roading, Transit says it cannot complete the western ring until at least 2025. We can have it 10 years earlier for a small user charge. That's the proposal. Aucklanders should go for it.

The last resort of public funders will be to suggest that if extra finance is needed, a regional petrol tax or congestion charges on all vehicles would be preferable. Charges for parking or crossing a city cordon were briefly proposed by Auckland's civic leaders recently. They were a phony form of traffic rationing, removing the vital element of choice. Commuters who had to cross the cordon could not avoid the charges. It was a system designed to raise revenue for public transport rather than reduce congestion.

Transit's proposal for the western ring is quite different.

The toll road would essentially be an alternative to the free route that would continue to be available on the existing motorway, and the alternative would be particularly attractive as a route to the airport from northern and western areas of the region. Where there was no convenient free alternative - from Westgate to Waterview - Transit proposes to toll only one lane of the motorway.

The choice there will be stark. As congestion builds in the free lane, drivers in the most hurry will be able to move into the toll lane, ensuring themselves a faster trip and reducing free-lane congestion into the bargain.

With electronic tolling the price should be able to rise in response to demand at any time, keeping the lane's traffic flowing at the speed limit. If Aucklanders can bring themselves to bite this bullet they will be glad they did.