NSW road tolls costing drivers $2 billion per year

The staggering amount of money drivers in one state are shelling out just to use toll roads has finally been revealed.

NSW drivers are being slugged more than $2 billion in tolls per year, a new report has found.

A parliamentary committee looking into the state’s road tolling regime delivered its final report on Monday, criticising the government for keeping information about the costs secret and recommending sweeping reform.

“The residents and motorists of NSW ought to know much more about the intricacies of the deals that are struck between the NSW government and the private sector,” committee chair and Greens MP Abigail Boyd wrote in the report.

NSW drivers pay more than $2bn per year to use toll roads. Picture by Bill Hearne

“They should have far greater visibility into investment decisions for new roads, and the sale of concessions on existing ones.”

The report called the decision by NSW Treasury to not show the public the contract details about WestConnex until 2060 an “abuse of executive power”.

It also said the government had failed to tell the committee how much drivers were expected to pay under existing toll contracts.

The committee members estimated it would be more than $100 billion.

The report also said drivers make about one million trips per day on toll roads.

Among the changes to tolling suggested were implementing toll caps, reviewing the application of toll escalation rates and reviewing relief schemes.

Committee chair Abigail Boyd called for greater transparency. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

The report also recommended not issuing any new toll contracts before considering those changes.

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said the motorists’ association supported making tolls more “fair and equitable”.

“The current system is clearly creating inequity depending on where people live,” he said.

“We welcome these findings, and there is now an opportunity to do a bit of a reboot of the relationship between the government, the private sector and the community.”

The NSW government, in a dissenting statement signed by two Liberal MPs and a Nationals MP, said the report was a “clearly highly partisan document designed for Labor and the Greens’ political agenda in the lead-up to the NSW state election”.

“This report fails to recognise how the government’s fiscal management and policies have been able to deliver road, rail, education and health infrastructure across metropolitan and regional NSW decades ahead of time and in stark contrast to other Labor states.”

A Transurban spokesperson said: “Toll roads boost the economy through reduced congestion, and quicker and safer journeys for motorists,

“We welcome the opportunity to discuss toll reform, but any changes are a matter for the NSW Government.

“A more equitable and efficient system would be the foundation of any discussion on reform.”