The New Zealand government has confirmed that it is considering the introduction of open road tolling in Auckland.
Finance minister Steven Joyce told a business audience the government could support tolling but would not support a regional fuel tax.
He said, “There is no getting away from the fact that central Auckland is built on a narrow isthmus which makes it hard to get around – and the available land transport corridors are rapidly being used.
“So beyond the current building programme we are going to have to look at demand management to reduce the reliance on the road corridors, in favour of buses, trains and ferries.”
Joyce said the government is developing a work programme to look at demand management tools including electronic road tolling in the medium to long term. It would expect that any road pricing initiative on existing motorways and highways would predominantly be a replacement for petrol taxes and road user charges not in addition to them.
He said the government was keen to have a more detailed discussion about demand management tools and explore further options for longer term funding for new infrastructure, including the use of private finance for certain projects.
Finance minister Steven Joyce told a business audience the government could support tolling but would not support a regional fuel tax.
He said, “There is no getting away from the fact that central Auckland is built on a narrow isthmus which makes it hard to get around – and the available land transport corridors are rapidly being used.
“So beyond the current building programme we are going to have to look at demand management to reduce the reliance on the road corridors, in favour of buses, trains and ferries.”
Joyce said the government is developing a work programme to look at demand management tools including electronic road tolling in the medium to long term. It would expect that any road pricing initiative on existing motorways and highways would predominantly be a replacement for petrol taxes and road user charges not in addition to them.
He said the government was keen to have a more detailed discussion about demand management tools and explore further options for longer term funding for new infrastructure, including the use of private finance for certain projects.
