Sydney drivers will have a one-stop shop for their complaints about tolls as a new state government agency helmed by a senior transport bureaucrat is set up to oversee the city’s motorways.
The agency known as NSW Motorways will start operating on Tuesday and, as part of its remit, establish a customer advocate who will be responsible for making the system more motorist-orientated in areas including complaints and administration of toll notices. Separately, an independent tolling ombudsman is expected to start early next year.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge’s ownership will shift to the new agency NSW Motorways.Credit: Anna Kucera
About $100 million from the state’s toll relief scheme, which includes a $60 a week cap, was unclaimed by motorists despite higher-than-usual claims in June. Monday was the last date on which anyone could claim toll relief cash that was accrued in 2024. The government has said that unclaimed money will be funnelled back into toll reform.
Budget papers also show the government is forecasting a $103 million surge in toll revenue in the 2028-29 financial year to $283 million, which it attributes to the opening of the Western Harbour Tunnel and long-delayed M6 motorway, both of which will be tolled but remain in public hands.
The government said the estimated increase in toll revenue was based on the environmental impact statements for the two toll road projects prepared under its Coalition predecessors.
The establishment of NSW Motorways comes as high-level negotiations between the government and Transurban, which controls 11 of the city’s 13 toll roads, enter a critical few months. The outcome will determine the extent of changes to tolling arrangements in Sydney.
Transport for NSW deputy secretary Camilla Drover, who oversees infrastructure projects and engineering, has been appointed NSW Motorways’ acting chief executive. The new agency will take ownership of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tunnel, followed by the Western Harbour Tunnel and M6 in 2028 when they are due to open.
As part of setting up NSW Motorways, work has begun to transfer the retail business E-Toll into the new agency and take on Transport for NSW’s toll notice functions.
NSW Motorways is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year, and 53 staff will be redeployed to the new agency from Treasury and Transport for NSW, while four new roles will be created.
A key recommendation of a review led by former competition tsar Allan Fels was to introduce laws immediately to establish NSW Motorways as a backstop measure in case complex negotiations with Transurban and other contract holders over a new tolling regime for Sydney failed. The government passed legislation late last year to form NSW Motorways, and has also created an oversight role for the state’s pricing watchdog to monitor prices and reforms.
Transport Minister John Graham, who is handling toll reform, said the government was committed to restoring fairness and the latest step was another in putting motorists first.
“NSW Motorways will create a customer advocate whose responsibility to ensure the voices of motorists are heard and to identify systemic issues to act upon,” he said.
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