Brisbane Toll Roads - the wrong people are paying!
Queensland - 7/10/2007
The Gateway Bridge was a wonderful addition to the Brisbane road network. For the first time in history, people didn't have to drive through the city when travelling between the north and south sides. The only downside was that you had to pay for the privilege. But with manual toll collection, there was no other option.
21 years on and we really haven't come far. There are no additional river crossings. But we finally see something happening – in the form of a Gateway upgrade and 2 additional crossings in the city. (See my previous article for my view on that.)
To pay for the new crossings, they will be tolled. Of course we're in the 21st century now so we will have full electronic tolling.
So – to address the issue of traffic congestion, we introduce new crossings not far from existing ones and make drivers pay for the privilege of taking a few minutes off their trip. Can anyone see people using existing routes (particularly on weekends) such as the Inner-city Bypass to avoid paying the tolls?
To reduce congestion, we need to encourage drivers to use the alternative routes. How do we do this? By switching the tolls to the congested routes.
I once saw a suggestion to toll the Story Bridge instead of the Gateway Bridge. The logistics of this would have been difficult and it would have unfairly tolled particular groups of people. Likewise, tolling the Captain Cook Bridge would be unfair to south-side residents.
A toll for those entering the CBD has been suggested before, but with old technology this would have been difficult to implement.
With today's technology and full electronic tolling, there is no reason why a "City-Toll" couldn't be introduced. A series of electronic toll gantries could be placed on each route into the city and each entrance/exit to/from the Southeast Freeway. (Tolling the Captain Cook Bridge would unfairly toll east-west travellers not entering the city itself.) See the map below for my suggestions.
This would mean that anyone entering/exiting the city would be tolled. A daily cap could apply for people who need to drive in and around the city throughout the day (e.g. Couriers, taxis).
The proceeds from the City-Toll could go towards the cost of the north-south bypass tunnel and Hale Street Bridge, significantly reducing their toll charge or removing it altogether. The City-Toll could be introduced immediately (or as soon as public transport improves) as it would successfully toll those entering the city without affecting north/sound or east/west commuters.
Update: A few days after posting this article, there was a story on Today Tonight showing how inner-city tolling was working in London and Hong Kong. It makes sense! One person against it suggested that it wasn't fair to make people pay for "free roads". Hello!! No road is free! Why should my tax dollars (and rates/taxes of every other Brisbaner/Queenslander not driving to the city every day) go towards the additional funding required for inner-city road improvements, monitoring systems/staff, co-ordinated traffic light systems, tidal-flow systems, etc?
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