KEY POINTS:
Government officials are pointing to the high rate at which vehicle ownership is outstripping Auckland's population growth as justification for pressing on with studies into charging motorists to use congested roads.
As the region's population rose 12.4 per cent between 2001 and 2006, to 1.303 million people, the number of vehicles registered in the Auckland postal district leapt by 19.4 per cent - to 1.005 million.
These included 764,940 cars, among other vehicles such as 106,868 trucks, 4069 buses, and 2766 taxis.
In the same five years, the number of Aucklanders driving vehicles to work or learning institutions rose by 60,000 to 396,765 by Census day in March last year, representing 74.9 per cent of commuters.
Ministry of Transport principal adviser Chris Money said that continuing to build new roads would not be enough to keep up with a projected 31 per cent population growth by 2026.
There would be 200,000 more working-age Aucklanders, and an increase of elderly people would offer little relief, as they would simply add to pressure between peak travel times.
Mr Money said Aucklanders had to consider ways to make roads function more efficiently and to encourage more people to use public transport.
Although only 25 per cent of 800 submissions supported initial suggestions last year for road-pricing schemes, Transport Minister Annette King has instructed officials to consult interested parties and report back to her in March on how their concerns may be addressed.
The ministry, which spent $2.3 million in the first round of investigations by consultants, has budgeted almost $1.5 million more to explore two hypothetical schemes based on charging motorists to drive at busy times around central Auckland.
One is aimed primarily at reducing congestion at a theoretical maximum of $6 a day and the other to raise revenue for public transport at a capped daily charge of $3.
Mr Money emphasised that the ministry was not designing any particular scheme for Government approval, but using models to assess how they may affect various sections of the community, including central Auckland businesses.
He said many overseas cities, including New York and five others in the United States, were considering following London and Stockholm in introducing road charges.
He believed Auckland needed to give serious consideration to how to stay competitive with other cities, by addressing congestion.
Automobile Association spokesman Simon Lambourne said the initial study was conducted in "a clandestine manner" and he welcomed the more open approach of the follow-up.
But he did not believe Aucklanders would find road-pricing any more acceptable after Ms King reconsidered the issue next year, when he said motorists would in the run-up to the general election be feeling even more "hammered" in anticipation of carbon levies and a new regional fuel tax to pay for public transport.
* VEHICLE GROWTH
The number of registered vehicles in Auckland jumped from 842,002 in 2001 to 1,005,709 in 2006.
The 19 per cent increase is higher than the 12 per cent rise in population.
The number of people driving to work is up 60,000 to almost 400,000.
