Motorists slugged with new Harbour Bridge bridge toll to fund permanent $60 cap
Premier Chris Minns has broken his election promise by introducing new tolls on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tunnel to fund his permanent $60 weekly toll cap.
Sydney motorists will have their toll bill permanently capped at $60 per week, but Premier Chris Minns will break an election pledge to pay for it – by slapping new tolls on old roads.
The Minns government has finally confirmed that drivers will be slugged a new northbound toll on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Harbour Tunnel.
The new toll will be enforced when the new Western Harbour Tunnel opens in 2028.
As revealed by The Daily Telegraph in July, government toll revenue is set to explode from 2028, alongside the opening of the new harbour crossing and the M6 stage 1.
The toll cap, Mr Minns’ signature election promise, was originally designed as a temporary cost-of-living relief measure.
It was set to expire at the end of this year.
However, with Roads Minister John Graham’s attempts to reform the entire tolling network have been beset by delays, the toll cap is being extended permanently.
So far, drivers have claimed more than $211 million under the toll cap.
Drivers in Sydney’s west, southwest and northwest have been the biggest beneficiaries of the toll cap.
In Blacktown alone, more than $3.5 million has been paid out to 9,400 drivers, followed by Baulkham Hills where drivers have been paid $3.2 million in rebates.
More than 680,000 refund claims have been made.
While some drivers will be better off, drivers heading north over harbour crossings will have to pay more.
A two-way toll on the Bridge and Tunnel was first proposed by the former government, in planning documents for the new harbour crossing.
At the time, Mr Minns campaigned against two-way tolling.
“The Liberals are trying to put a second toll on the Sydney Harbour Bridge! Is there anything they won’t toll?,” he said in 2021.
Mr Minns also declared that year that “going forward there should be no more new tolls on existing roads”.
The extension of the toll cap comes years after the Minns government promised to overhaul Sydney’s tolling network by December 2025.
The government is still locked in negotiations with private toll road operators, costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
While the bulk of the reform is delayed, there has finally been a breakthrough on the government’s promise to “consolidate” fees charged to motorists who fail to pay their tolls.
Mr Graham said that toll road companies have “indicated” they are willing to agree to reform admin fees by next year.
Last financial year, motorists paid $618 million in administration fees, with 46 million notices sent to drivers demanding payment of unpaid tolls.
Mr Graham defended new tolls for the bridge and tunnel, saying money raised will help drivers in Western Sydney.
“Two-way tolling on the harbour crossings was made necessary when the Liberals decided the Western Harbour Tunnel would be tolled in both directions,” he said.
“This all comes back to fairness.
“If you live in Western Sydney, you have been paying tolls in both directions and seeing them rise with frustrating regularity.
Self-employed chauffeur Muhammad Irfan, who travels across the Harbour Bridge to the Northern Beaches from his home in Strathfield South every day, said the new toll was a rip off.
Mr Irfan said he is paying $1000-per-month in tolls, and is not eligible for the toll cap.
“If I pay $20 to $30 a day – you do the calculations on how much that’s going to be in a year – it will be half of my mortgage payment.
“They are ripping people off,” he said.
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Originally published as Motorists slugged with new Harbour Bridge bridge toll to fund permanent $60 cap
