KEY POINTS:
Drivers trying out Auckland's new Northern Gateway toll motorway between Orewa and Puhoi from next month will face $40 fines if they let 28 days slip by without paying.
The fines would have been a steeper $60 had the Transport Agency won political approval for its proposal to enforce tolls of $2 for cars and $4 for trucks and buses on the $365 million road, which is due to open on January 25 during Auckland Anniversary Weekend.
But Transport Minister Steven Joyce confirmed last night that the Cabinet had chosen a less "punitive" $40 infringement fee for users of the first road on the state highway network to have electronic tolling.
Mr Joyce said infringement fines for unpaid parking fees ranged from $20 to $60, so he and his colleagues had decided to choose the mid-point for enforcement action.
They were keen to strike a balance between "unnecessarily punitive costs and wanting to make sure people pay".
Transport Agency registry centre manager Brett Dooley said earlier yesterday drivers would initially be given three days to pay their tolls before being sent invoices and having administration fees of $5 added to their bills.
That would mean a total of $7 payable at that point for cars, $9 for trucks, and nothing for motorcycles.
"But after 28 days, if we send it [an account] through the infringement process, the fee would be $40," he said.
Mr Dooley said the levels of tolls to be introduced on the new 7.5km road would be advertised in newspapers at the weekend, to comply with a statutory 28-day public notification period.
Regular drivers would be encouraged to set up accounts in advance, either on the internet at www.tollroad.govt.nz or by calling a free-dialling phone number, 0800 402020.
Casual users could pay over the phone by credit card or call at payment machines on their approaches to the new road, at the BP Connect service centre to the south or at a turning bay between Puhoi and Titford's Bridge to the north.
Drivers not willing to pay a toll will be able to turn off the new alignment and take the free route around the Hibiscus Coast to Orewa.
