CBD congestion levy should be $10 a day says new report

Motorists driving in and out Melbourne’s CBD during and around peak times could be hit with a fee under a new push aimed to reducing bumper-to-bumper traffic jams.

The proposed charge would reduce congestion in and around the CBD, according to the Grattan Institute report.

Peak-hour commuters would pay $10 a day to drive in and out of the Melbourne CBD, a report by a leading think tank has suggested.

The congestion charge report, the second in a week by the Grattan Institute, says a $5 peak-hour fee should be charged on cars to reduce traffic in the city centre.

The fee would apply from 8- 9.30am and then from 4-6pm. It also suggests a $3 charge for 30 minutes either side of the morning peak and an hour ­before and 30 minutes after the evening peak.

The study also proposes further charges down the track on major arterials and eventually the whole network.

Analyst Marion Terrill of the Grattan Institute.

A congestion levy would speed up arterial road traffic.

The report comes after Premier Daniel Andrews last week said there were no plans for a congestion levy.

And the city council’s latest transport strategy, while canvassing the idea, did not ­directly call or plan for one.

The Grattan report proposed a CBD cordon covering the Hoddle Grid, Docklands, parts of Southbank and north of the city to include the Queen Victoria Market. Motorists would be charged via number-plate recognition cameras.

Grattan Institute transport and cities program director Marion Terrill predicted that average speeds outside the CBD would increase by 16 per cent during the morning and evening peaks.

Five years after the proposed levy is introduced, the report says a second phase of charges should be imposed.

Trucks would pay a higher CBD congestion charge than cars under the proposal.

“A per-kilometre charge should be imposed in peak periods on the most congested arterial roads and urban freeways,’’ the report says.

These “corridor charges” would apply on roads such as Hoddle St, Punt Rd, the Eastern Freeway, Alexandra Parade and the West Gate and Monash freeways.

And in a third phase, governments should consider charging drivers to use the entire network at busy times, but only as part of a deal that abolished or cut fuel excise and vehicle registration.

Ms Terrill said the congestion charge would mostly be paid by drivers on higher than average incomes.

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The suburbs of Kew, Brighton and Malvern have the highest proportion of drivers coming into the CBD.

Ms Terrill said the charge would come as a shock to many people but there would be benefits.

“Another way to think about this it’s changing the way we pay to use roads. Instead of queueing up in traffic and paying with our time which is lost forever, drivers pay a fee and you can recycle the money and give back to people in some form,’’ Ms Terrill said.

The Melbourne CBD charge would yield $38 million a year in net benefit, mostly through time savings and even accounting for set-up and operational costs.

Some 61,000 people work in Melbourne’s CBD which is well served by public transport.

Council figures say that 43 per cent of the 200,000 vehicles ­that enter the Hoddle Grid daily is through-traffic. The Grattan report says the through-traffic is about one-third during morning peak and almost half in the evening.

The report, Right Time, Right Place, Right Price, also suggested a congestion payment scheme for central Sydney.

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@IanRoyall