Toll booths ringing city mooted

By BERNARD ORSMAN

A $5 toll to enter Auckland in peak morning traffic and a $2 toll from 9.30am to 7pm is one of the options examined to fix the city's worsening traffic crisis.

A cordon around the Auckland isthmus, with tolls on the Harbour Bridge, the Southern and Western motorways, Mangere Bridge, Great South Rd, Waipuna Rd, Panmure Bridge and the proposed eastern highway, would raise $180 million a year, according to Auckland and Government officials.

The officials examined measures to reduce congestion when preparing options for the Government's transport package, released last Friday.

The Government decided to fund a huge road-building and public transport programme in Auckland with a 5.6c-a-litre petrol tax increase and a $900 million contribution over 10 years.

The package suggested tolls on new and existing roads but said further work needed to be done. Finance Minister Dr Michael Cullen said the social and environmental impacts of tolls could outweigh the economic benefits.

The Government has ruled out toll roads unless there is a free alternative.

But this did not stop officials doing detailed work, with the Government's knowledge, on a cordon toll around the Auckland isthmus to relieve congestion and raise money for transport projects.

However, they also said it was a "blunt instrument" that would hit low-income workers the hardest, and allow the wealthy and those whose jobs were well served by public transport to avoid paying the charge.

The officials also did detailed work on a second option for tolling motorways and key roads based on a $5 toll but found it "would result in less revenue than a $2 charge" because of the amount of traffic that would divert to local roads to avoid it.

They settled on a charge of 10c per km on the tolled roads to maximise revenue and minimise diversion. This could raise up to $200 million a year but the modelling found it had little impact on reducing congestion.

The joint officials group's report said introducing tolls would take four to six years, cost up to $100 million to set up and up to $47 million annually to run.

"Road pricing will face significant issues in respect of community acceptance," the report said, particularly for roads that "many drivers currently perceive they either already pay for through existing mechanisms (eg, fuel tax) or obtain for free".

The Automobile Association's Auckland motoring advocate, Stephen Selwood, said the AA supported tolls only on new roads and believed in alternatives to tolling existing roads, such as spending more of the petrol tax that goes into the consolidated fund.

A survey conducted for the AA of 775 Aucklanders found only 34 per cent supported road-user charges, compared with 78 per cent who said the Government should pay more for transport from petrol tax.

Transit announced on Tuesday that it hoped to start construction by next December on a toll road from Orewa to Puhoi - the first toll road under the new Land Transport Management Act.

Pricing options

* Tolls on new roads, motorways and key access routes.

* Fast, tolled lanes on motorways.

* A cordon toll around the Auckland isthmus.

* Tolling all roads.

* Tolling areas like the CBD and Newmarket.

* Higher parking charges.

* Free public transport.