Tolls based on distance travelled would cost family $376

Chris McConachy

A "strategic network" option is the only one of five potential Auckland road-charging schemes to include fees based on distances travelled, and is therefore the most akin to traditional tolling.

Because motorists could choose detours along free alternative routes, the Ministry of Transport considers it would have fewer adverse social impacts than the other schemes.

But because fees are proposed at a lower level than the others to minimise these impacts, the ministry has found that the scheme would not raise nearly enough money for necessary mitigating measures such as better cross-town bus services and improvements to local roads.

How it would work

It would include much but not all of Auckland's motorway network, and possibly some limited-access arterial routes at a later stage.

Charges would be set at either 15c or 25c a kilometre, depending on how congested various stretches of motorway become in morning traffic peaks. Like some of the other schemes, motorists would be charged up to a maximum of $6 a day, and only between 6am and 10am each weekday.

The proposed network includes a completed motorway from the airport to Waterview along State Highway 20, along which southbound motorists would pay up to $3.75, compared with a maximum northbound fee of $2.25.

That is not counting any separate toll Transit NZ may impose on parts or all of the western ring route to repay a possible $860 million road construction loan.

The motorway network would be policed in the ministry's scheme by 27 tolling gantries supporting electronic scanners and cameras, mostly stationed near off-ramps, so motorists can be charged to the nearest kilometre.

Pros

This scheme would make motorways run more smoothly after removing about 20 per cent of predicted 2016 traffic volumes of 199,000 vehicles during the 6am to 10am peak. It would have minimal social impacts compared with the other schemes because alternative free routes would be available.

Proposed charges are lower than those of the other schemes, to discourage the diversion of traffic to local roads.

This means the average cost to the 13 per cent to 21 per cent of Auckland households it would affect will be much lower than that of any of other scheme, at $376 a year in out-of-pocket expenses.

Cons

Despite the relatively low fees, local roads would suffer extra congestion which would have to be mitigated by widening them or providing "traffic calming" infrastructure such as speed bumps.

This means that although the scheme would reduce congestion by a net 25 per cent across the region's overall network, from what would otherwise be suffered by 2016, the average travel speed on the Auckland isthmus in the morning peak would be reduced from 39km/h to 36km/h.

The scheme would have higher administration costs because it involves two levels of distance-based charges, compared with flat-rate fees payable by vehicles passing below gantries in the other options.

Its high operating costs, coupled with mitigation expenses, would leave it $256.7 million in the red after 20 years in current dollar terms discounted annually by 8 per cent.

This is by far the worst financial projection of any of the schemes, without offering significant congestion improvements in return.

Will it happen?

The Auckland Regional Council is querying the scheme's operating costs, given its understanding that Transit NZ expects substantial revenue from tolling the western ring route.

But it would take a far more optimistic analysis to overcome a Cabinet directive that any scheme must raise enough money to cover its own cost and those of any required mitigation.


CASE STUDY: Back-street routes appeal

Glendene resident Chris McConachy will consider more circuitous routes to work in Penrose if tolls are spread across much of the Auckland motorway system - depending on petrol prices.

"It might cost more in gas for running down side streets," the pharmaceutical company operations manager said.

About 12km of Mr McConachy's trip to work is along motorways, starting at Waterview on the Northwestern before turning down the Southern.

This could increase to 14km once a motorway extension is built past Avondale, meaning he may have to pay a one-way morning-only toll of $3.30c. That would include 25c for each 12km along the two established motorways, and 15c for each 2km in northbound traffic along the new link.

Transit NZ is also considering a separate toll for parts or all of the western ring route, which could add to Mr McConachy's costs.

The father of two young children said he would be willing to pay if he had to, as he was well aware of contributing to Auckland's "shocker" congestion problems by driving to work without any passengers.

But in the long term he might prefer a job closer to home, as it was too expensive and took too long to catch trains connecting at Newmarket.