It’s time Sydney drivers paid for roads, says Transurban toll company chief
SYDNEY motorists face the same grinding congestion as Mexico City by 2035 with 40-minute trips stretching to two hours in peak times.
MOTORISTS need to pay for the roads they use or Sydney traffic will end up like Mexico City’s, the boss of the nation’s biggest toll road operator says.
Transurban chief executive Scott Charlton argues those who contribute to the congestion must pay for it, and wants politicians to take a back seat in the argument.
“Despite the views of many Australians, public roads are not free,” Mr Charlton said at a business lunch yesterday.
“If you use the transport infrastructure more or contribute to further congestion, you should pay more — it’s as simple as that.”
But Mr Charlton copped immediate resistance from the boss of Transport NSW, Tim Reardon, who said motorist thought the roads were free for good reason.
“That’s a reasonable assumption,” Mr Reardon said.
“We told them it was free … I don’t think they buy into the argument that something that is free yesterday should have a direct charge tomorrow and not be free.”
Mr Charlton said Transurban had begun road pricing trials in Melbourne, where it owns the lucrative CityLink. It is surveying customers about various types of user pricing to work out driver preferences and will use the data to further argue for a “fair system” and a more efficient network.
“As this industry has been saying for many years, roads are the ‘last great unpriced utility’,” Mr Charlton said.
Without a better funding model, Sydney motorists face the same grinding congestion as Mexico City by 2035 — even after the WestConnex and NorthConnex projects are up and running — with 40-minute trips stretching to two hours in peak times.
“Moving to a user-pays model across the wider transport network is the only way we can ensure our cities remain among the most competitive and liveable in the world and do not grind to a halt due to congestion within the next 20 to 30 years.”
He said governments should not take a lead in the debate, but instead should reform the regulatory framework and then “stand back and allow the private sector to innovate”.
Transurban made a statutory profit of $62 million for the first half of this financial year, with earnings before interest, tax and depreciation up 14.6 per cent.
In Sydney, where Transurban runs the Lane Cove Tunnel, M5, M7 and Cross City Tunnel, toll revenue jumped almost 15 per cent.
Mr Reardon and Mr Charlton both declined to comment on whether they had struck a deal on offering a discount toll rate for motorists to use the Cross City Tunnel during the construction of the light rail in the CBD.
Originally published as It’s time Sydney drivers paid for roads, says Transurban toll company chief
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