KEY POINTS:
Drivers had a clear run of Auckland's new Northern Gateway motorway yesterday, before the introduction overnight of New Zealand's first electronic tolling system.
"It's going like a dream," said Transport Agency regional director Wayne McDonald of traffic flows back to Auckland from Warkworth last night.
"The southbound traffic is getting the advantage of the steady flow through the project [between Puhoi and Orewa] instead of building up and having a queue tail go all the way up to Warkworth, so it's the best night we've seen for a long time."
Earlier yesterday, a Herald car took just three minutes and 43 seconds to travel the 7km from the new road's Orewa interchange to the northern end of its signature twin tunnels at the 100km/h speed limit applying to the full route.
The return trip from 12.15pm took just under four minutes.
That compared with a 64-minute opening-day ordeal from 11.10am on Sunday, when the road's two northbound lanes were jammed with traffic over all but the first 400m of the route.
Sightseers got more than they bargained for in taking advantage of a sudden decision by the Transport Agency to declare the road - which was completed two months ahead of schedule and under budget for about $356 million - free of tolls for its first two days.
Yesterday's 100km/h run included the stretch beneath toll gantries near Orewa, where cameras were due from midnight to collect images of the front and rear numberplates of each passing vehicle, to be matched with data from the Transport Agency's national vehicle registration centre.
Advertisements have urged motorists to "pay tolls at motorway speeds" by setting up pre-trip accounts, although cash payments can be made at off-road kiosks.
Each one-way car trip now costs $2 and vehicles heavier than 3.5 tonnes are charged $4, amounts which will be adjusted for inflation over the next 35 years or until a $158 million government loan for the road is repaid. Motorcyclists can keep riding for free.
Drivers will have 72 hours to pay their tolls - whether by phone, on the internet or at kiosks on both approaches to the road.
But if they wait to be billed for their trips, they will face an additional "administration" charge of $2.20c in the first instance and a $40 infringement fee for any toll still unpaid 28 days after the initial notice is sent.
Although few road users spoken to yesterday objected to the size of the tolls, some predicted serious difficulties for the agency in trying to collect them, especially on cars with out-of-date registrations or used by unauthorised drivers such as their owners' children.
"Mum and dad will receive a bill and be asking, who drove the car through the tunnel on such and such a date," said one sceptic.
The Automobile Association, while supporting tolls as a way of completing the road earlier than otherwise, is concerned that its success may be reduced by impediments such as limited operating hours of a toll-free phone payment line.
Although the agency has promised to review a minimum $44 setup amount for opening toll accounts, access and use group manager Ian Gordon says making the call centre a 24-hour operation would take too much out of the $2 car toll, not leaving enough for loan repayments.
The agency wants to keep collection costs at a maximum average of 65c.
Tolls: how to pay within 72 hours
* Open an account (minimum set-up amount $40 plus $4 for each light vehicle and $8 for trucks) by visiting www.tollroad.govt.nz or phoning 0800 402020 between 8am and 6pm on week days and 9am and 2pm on Saturdays.
* (Call 0800 402020 (see operating hours above) and quote credit card number (Mastercard or Visa only) for one to 10 casual trips to be taken within 180 days.
* Pay by cash, Eftpos or credit card at kiosks at BP service centre beside the Northern Motorway near Silverdale or at turning bay beside SH1 south of Puhoi.
