31 July 2011

NZ Transport Agency Auckland Regional Office

The NZ Transport Agency reminds drivers using the Northern Gateway Toll Road on State Highway 1 north of Auckland that new administration charges for tolls paid for by phone or at the kiosks apply from tomorrow (Monday, 1 August).

The road’s base tolls - $2.00 per trip for light vehicles and $4.00 per trip for heavy vehicles – remain unchanged.

From 1 August, the administration charges for toll payments will be:-
• Pre-pay account payments: No charge
• Web payments: No charge
• Kiosk payments: $0.40 charge per transaction
• Phone payments: $3.70 charge per transaction

The administration charges apply per payment, not per trip. For example, the total cost of purchasing two $2.00 toll trips at the kiosks from topmorrow will be $4.40 - $4 for two toll trips plus the administration charge of 40c. The total cost of purchasing ten trips will be $20.40 - $20 for ten trips plus the 40c administration charge.

Recovering a portion of administration costs is part of a broader effort to reduce the cost of processing toll payments, says the NZTA’s Regional Director for Auckland and Northend, Stephen Town.

The cost to the NZTA of processing kiosk payments is 54c for each transaction, and a $3.85 cost is incurred to process each transaction for telephone payments.

Since the NZTA announced the adminstration charges at the beginning of July more than 1,000 additional pre-paid accounts have been opened, which do not incur any charge.

There are curently 57,300 active accounts, and in the past three months account holders have been responsible for about 58% of all trips on the toll road.

“We’re delighted with the growing number of people who are taking advantage of the toll road’s electronic free-flow technology, and have no need to interrupt their journey to stop to pay their toll,” says Mr Town.

People can access the toll road’s website, www.tollroad.govt.nz 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Mr Town says in order to further reduce operating costs, from Monday the toll payment contact centre’s operating hours will change from 8:30am to 5pm seven days a week to 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday.

Casual toll road users can pay for trips in advance or at any time within five days after using the toll road, and all drivers have the option of using free alternative routes between Auckland and Northland.

Administration charges for toll payment notices (issued for tolls which remain unpaid five days after using the road) will also increase from $2.20 to $4.90 from 1 August to reflect the actual cost of administering toll payment notices.

ENDS

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