Tolls on roads a joke.

[HSVREDSLED]

The worsening situation regarding tolls on our roads is a joke.

The answer to me is painfully simple.

1. State govt build a road/freeway. (Borrow the money if they have to)

2. Calculate the cost (including interest)

3. Add a couple of million for good measure.

4. Introduce a affordable toll. (half the current rate)

5. When the cost of (2) (3) is reached, scrap the toll.


As an example, 90,000 cars use the M2 daily. That equates to a minimum of $180,000 a day, or $65,000,000 a year. How much do roads cost?

Am I missing something here, or am I suffering from Common sense syndrome???

[VooDoo]

2 words..

CASH

COW

[Clubby250]

plus all the millions and millions they get from speeding fines that should pay for everyroad every built.
best not to think about it as the more u discover and learn the more it hurts ur head.

brett

[Marco]

The worsening situation regarding tolls on our roads is a joke.

The answer to me is painfully simple.

1. State govt build a road/freeway. (Borrow the money if they have to)

2. Calculate the cost (including interest)

3. Add a couple of million for good measure.

4. Introduce a affordable toll. (half the current rate)

5. When the cost of (2) (3) is reached, scrap the toll.


As an example, 90,000 cars use the M2 daily. That equates to a minimum of $180,000 a day, or $65,000,000 a year. How much do roads cost?

Am I missing something here, or am I suffering from Common sense syndrome???

You're missing politics.

Debt is completely out of fashion in Government circles - can you imagine the outcry if a Labor State Government borrowed money to build something? There'd be the usual outcry of Labor being financially irresponsible from the Liberal oppositions and that would bring back some pretty painful memories of Governments like Cain/Kirner. No State Labor Government wants any voter thinking that they are anything like the bad old days of the 1980s. So, debt is bad. Never mind that debt financed the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Snowy scheme and no doubt lots of other good stuff in other states - it might be ruled out on other grounds, but it isn't even an option on the table anymore thanks to the political environment.

The only other option, then, is to let someone else wear the cost, which is where the private sector comes in. They find the money, they build the road, run it, and give it back after 25 years or whatever. So far so good, except that of course while the Government would only need to recover costs and pay interest on the debt, businesses naturally want to make as much money as possible - which is good for their shareholders, but bad for customers on their roads.

Option 3 would be to cut money from other areas to pay for new roads - which isn't going to make anybody whose funding was cut very happy. If the choice comes down to freeways or hospitals, no Government with half a political brain is going to let the hospitals go to rot while new freeways spring up across the countryside...

[planetdavo]

Eastlink in Melbourne will cost me to use it, but, as I own ConnectEast shares, they will be paying me money back as a shareholder!
You don't always have to lose....
As above says, if the Government borrowed a billion or two to make it, there'd be hell to pay these days....

[piston1]

glad we dont have road tolls here in s.a but the last three years we have gone on holidays to victoria each time we spent about $6000 in the state only to get back to s.a to on the spot fines for toll roads weve had enough this years holidays are in the n.t. other people we know have had the same and are going else where think s.a needs toll on victoria border (pay back) tourist should be free

[planetdavo]

There is an increasing trend for one toll road's etag to operate on a number of others roads, even interstate.
Tolls are where life is going. We want great roads in these increasingly congested times, we need private operators.

[Marco]

Yep. I got an etag even though there are no toll roads in the ACT just for when I go to Sydney/Melbourne.

[Crispy]

i am also glad no tolls here in perth but driving over ther for bathurst sure ill rack them up
does Qld have them aswell

[aftahours]

i am also glad no tolls here in perth but driving over ther for bathurst sure ill rack them up
does Qld have them aswell

Sure does, I spend $30 a week on tolls just to get to and from work. :(

[Goggles]

Yep. I got an etag even though there are no toll roads in the ACT just for when I go to Sydney/Melbourne.

same here, and to me it is worth it because the minimal cost for me allows me to travel on the best route somewhere, and I don't have to fumble for coins.

[planetdavo]

The thing with toll roads that hardly ever gets mentioned by the general public is that, although it might cost $40 or so per week, the toll roads usually give a pretty good run, even in busy times, so once you factor in the big savings in stop/start driving fuel use, brake wear and so forth, you can actually end up ahead, be it an actual dollar value, or a quality of life value, spending much less time travelling than the alternatives offer...

[Ryzz]

The thing with toll roads that hardly ever gets mentioned by the general public is that, although it might cost $40 or so per week, the toll roads usually give a pretty good run, even in busy times, so once you factor in the big savings in stop/start driving fuel use, brake wear and so forth, you can actually end up ahead, be it an actual dollar value, or a quality of life value, spending much less time travelling than the alternatives offer...Tell that to the people that are stuck on the M5, M4 or M2 everyday to and from work. These are, like every other Sydney road, car parks during peak hour. Yet they still have to pay the Toll!

[Bravotwozero]

The Monash is backed right back to the Hallam Bypass pretty much every morning. That's a good 30 kilometres out of the city for all you non melbourne people!

I blame the greenies for the tolls on Easlink. If they hadn't of had to burrow under Mullum Mullum stormwater drain.... ooops I mean creek then the budget wouldn't have been blown and there would be no tolls. But I have no need to use either roads so it doesn't really affect me.

[Toddler78]

I could see how you guys could get pi$$ed off with having to pay tolls, I've never been to sydney so cant comment there but have lived and worked in melbourne for a short time, and sure in peak hour even the freeways are nothing more then a moving car park but the road structure there is great and I think well thought out in comparison to adelaide. all our roads are built and maintained by the state governement and look what we have, one expressway that is a one way road!!! we have no major highways connecting places and sure adelaide is small and has a small population in comparrison to the eastern states, but our roads are just as clogged as yours but the difference is we have no room now to build wider or free flowing roads due to the lack of planning and forsight years ago. over here you are lucky to drive for 100m before you are stopped by another traffic light:cussing: I would almost be happy to pay tolls for a better road structure in adelaide.

Like what was posted before it is political sicide for a government to borrow money and go into debt for a project that will not be finished by the time the next election is due. and adelaide is still only just recovering from the state bank colapse in the 1980s

[mad_monaro]

Westgate Bridge - nuff said.

Who here is actually old enough to remember there were toll booths instead of shell servos?

[black_friday]

Having not been around during the Cain/Kirner govmts, Im gonna agree with HSVREDSLED. Seriously, governments throw our money around like confetti, even if they borr ow $to build a FREEway, they would surely make it bak in 5-10 years

[planetdavo]

Tell that to the people that are stuck on the M5, M4 or M2 everyday to and from work. These are, like every other Sydney road, car parks during peak hour. Yet they still have to pay the Toll!

It probably still saves them half an hour, even with the jams!!!!
I'm not pro toll, just I'm not anti toll. In many instances, they provide something the governments can't build anywhere near as quickly. People want things built NOW, so the money has to come from somewhere....
Why do people use credit cards to buy a TV, DVD recorder, and surround sound system? Because they want it NOW. If they saved for a year or two, they could pay in cash, saving tons of interest.
Now relate this scenario to the government funded FREE road. It would take ages, causing even more clogged roads for years as they build stage one, then stage two a couple of years later, then stage three at some point in the future....

[matts]

I live in Glen Waverley and work in Richmond, i get off the South eastern ( yeah i know, Monash or M1 these days) at Burnley Yarra boulevard, i resent paying this toll as i'm using a piece of road that has been there for years before citylink was introduced. Especially with traffic travelling at the snails pace it does in peak hour.

Having said that, i gladly pay the toll to get through the tunnel or get to the airport as that genuinely does benefit me with a new road infrastructure.