With legislation gaining support from across the house, congestion charging may soon be a reality for Auckland drivers, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin.
To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.
Time-of-use charging passes first hurdle
Congestion charging took a step closer on Tuesday when parliament voted the Land Transport Management (Time of Use Charging) Amendment Bill past its first reading. The legislation will allow Auckland and other cities to introduce “time of use” charges to encourage drivers to avoid certain roads or urban zones during peak times. It received support from across the house, with only Te Pāti Māori voting against, and will now head to the Transport and Infrastructure Committee for consideration.
Heavy traffic costing Auckland billions
The vote coincided with the release of Auckland’s Cost of Congestion (pdf), a report from consultancies EY and Arup on behalf of Auckland Transport. It found that Aucklanders sit in traffic for a combined 29 million hours a year and estimates that congestion will cost the city $2.6 billion a year from 2026, factoring in time delays and other macro-economic costs such as reduced housing affordability and supply chain disruptions.
The National Road Carriers Association (NRC) says the report “confirms what road transport operators in Auckland have known for a long time – freight efficiency is in trouble in Auckland”. The NRC supports congestion provided off-peak travel times do not increase so much they cancel any time savings, and the financial boost from time saved is enough to offset the congestion charge itself. The AA says its members are “pretty sceptical” about charging, and that any scheme should be “fair and affordable” and backed up with good public transport, RNZ reports.
Transport minister to play key role
A notable aspect of the legislation is the powerful role played by central government in any future congestion charging scheme. Unlike the previous Labour government’s original proposal, the transport minister will have a major say in the way the scheme is implemented and how any money raised is spent. Labour and the Greens have criticised this centralisation of powers, with Labour transport spokesperson Tangi Utikere noting the legislation gives the transport minister a “stark ability” to force a city to adopt a congestion charging scheme if deemed necessary, reports The Post (paywalled).
What about exemptions and discounts?
Te Pāti Māori voted no on the legislation because “it unfairly burdens our most vulnerable: whānau Māori, tangata moana, low-income workers”, said MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp on Tuesday. In 2023, mayor Wayne Brown suggested people on low incomes and Gold Card holders might get discounts or even be fully exempt.
That’s a bad idea, says the New Zealand Initiative’s Eric Crampton. He thinks the scheme should hew closely to our GST regime, which is “the world’s best consumption tax” due to its no-exceptions stance. Instead, Crampton envisages a “congestion dividend” that would be paid to all Aucklanders, with Community Services Card holders getting a bigger slice of the pie. Just don’t start offering exemptions, he says. “Once one exception is allowed, it is harder to refuse the next one.”
