Government must not turn motorists into cash cows
ACT welcomes the Government’s commitment to revenue-neutral road pricing in Auckland, says ACT Leader David Seymour.
“ACT has long said that road pricing should make life easier for commuters, not turn them into cash cows. So ACT will
hold the Government to account over its promise that road pricing won’t raise more revenue.
“Any revenue raised by road pricing should be offset with cuts to petrol tax. In fact, an effective road pricing system
should give motorists the chance to save money by travelling outside of rush hour. Currently people travelling off-peak
are getting screwed by petrol taxes despite putting less pressure on infrastructure.
“In addition to being revenue neutral, Auckland’s road pricing system should be world-leading. We should use recent and
emerging technologies, including GPS tracking of traffic, to effectively price roads in real time, so pricing is
self-regulating and booth-free. This gives people constant incentives to share rides or travel off-peak, plus options to
pay for on-peak travel. In practice, this means high-value, time-sensitive trips such as ambulance rides would have
shorter and more reliable travel times, even in rush hour. Meanwhile, single occupancy riders would be more likely to
take the bus, kids travelling to school would more likely to share rides, and people living near train stations would be
more likely to use them.
“And road pricing needs to be implemented soon. Waiting ten or even five years is not good enough. We’ve already waited
too long, and in Auckland we’re at a crisis point now. A meaningful commitment would be for the Government to implement
demand-based road pricing within the next Parliamentary term. That way, the Government could be held accountable for any
delay.”
ENDS