Melbourne commuters brace for CityLink toll hike, suburban commuters to pay $20+ return fee

Commuters are set to be stung by yet another price hike for travel on the CityLink toll road, coming into effect within a matter of days. Here’s what you’ll pay to travel into the CBD.

Transurban’s next quarterly price hike will send the travel cap soaring to $12 for a one-way trip into Melbourne’s CBD. Picture: Simon Anders

Commuters will be stung by yet another price hike for travel on Melbourne’s CityLink toll road in the coming days, with those living as close as 20-minutes from the CBD set to cop a whopping $20.80 fee for a return trip.

Transurban this month published its new toll pricing to come into effect on April 1, before another quarterly price increase in July.

Under the new prices, a one-way car trip on CityLink will be capped at $12 for those with a Linkt account – $3 more than what drivers were charged in April 2017.

Commuters from Melbourne’s southeast will watch the fee for a one-way trip rise above $10 for the first time ever.

Those in Cardinia, Monash, Kingston and Glen Eira will need to fork out $10.40 for a trip on the CityLink between the Monash Freeway/Toorak Rd and Exhibition St. That sees a return trip cost these residents $20.80.

It comes after a Herald Sun analysis uncovered many of those living closest to the city were copping the steepest fees to travel into the CBD.

Those living in Stonnington, about 11km from the CBD, will also have to pay $10.40 for a one-way trip as of April 1 – nearly $1 per kilometre.

Those further north will still feel the pinch of the price rise, with commuters in Whittlesea and Hume set to pay up to $6.40 if they exit the CityLink at Dynon Rd, a $1.20 mark-up on what they paid during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

The new figures mean some daily commuters will pay up to $26.20 more every week to travel on Melbourne’s CityLink toll roads than they did eight years ago.

This is on top of EastLink toll fees, operated by ConnectEast, for those travelling from Frankston, Mornington Peninsula, Dandenong, Yarra Ranges, Maroondah and Knox.

Residents travelling from the Mornington Peninsula will continue to pay the most exorbitant toll road fees. Under the revised prices, these commuters will now pay a huge $32.44 every time they drive to and from the city ($10.40 CityLink fee and a $5.82 EastLink fee per way).

Transurban — which raked in $948m in revenue from Melbourne drivers alone last financial year — has upped its fees by a fixed 4.25 per cent every year since 2019, with new prices coming into effect each quarter.

Transurban will only start calculating its fee hikes off of consumer price index (CPI), like other toll operators, from July 1 2029.

Originally published as Melbourne commuters brace for CityLink toll hike, suburban commuters to pay $20+ return fee