Sydney's "unfair" motorway network - dominated by toll giant Transurban - could be made more equitable with the nation's first city-wide price scheme.
Create a free account to read this article
or signup to continue reading
But upending which drivers pay what share of the city's $2.5 billion each year in tolls could be a hard task for NSW Premier Chris Minns after he appeared to rule out key elements of the proposed overhaul.
The city-wide pricing scheme was a key recommendation of an independent toll review, released on Monday, that sketched a fresh future for Sydney tollways.
A patchwork of confusing tolls would give way to consistent pricing across the city, with slight reductions available the further motorists drive.
Motorcyclists would pay half what cars pay, while cars towing caravans and large utes would no longer be slugged the same toll as semi-trailers, under the proposals put forward by former competition watchdog chief Allan Fels and economist David Cousins.
The toll burden, weighing most heavily on the western suburbs, would be more evenly distributed with the city's east and north through two-way tolling on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, as well as the Harbour Tunnel and Eastern Distributor.
The bridge was last tolled in both directions in 1970.
But Mr Minns, who has ruled out new tolls on existing roads, stressed tolling northbound crossing of the famous coathanger was "purely hypothetical at this point".
"No one should assume (the recommendations) will be implemented in full - we need time to assess what it would do to the toll road network," he said.
While highlighting the current regime was not fair for western Sydney families, fixing it was not an easy proposition, he said.
Mr Minns confidently stood by the M5 cashback - despite the report criticising such "inadequately targeted" schemes.
The review highlighted how Melbourne's EastLink was sold to the bidder offering the lowest toll to drivers.
But that competition factor was absent from successive NSW tollway deals, with the recently built WestConnex and NorthConnex both tendered with predetermined prices.
Industry peak body Roads Australia said any solutions must address cost-of-living challenges and the need to fund rail and roads "our growing nation desperately needs".
An infrastructure think-tank meanwhile warned against a proposal to establish a state-owned TollCo to control the system.
"Any discussion of unilaterally legislating over existing contracts is reckless and should be ruled out," Infrastructure Partnerships Australia chief executive Adrian Dwyer said.
The report, written under an assumption current operators would not lose out from changes, noted any significant change required buy-in from Transurban.
The tolling giant owns at least half of every one of the city's 11 private tollways and boasts a market capitalisation that rivals Telstra and Woolworths.
Under the Fels-Cousins restructure, a unified price structure with some subsidies would reduce prices for 44 per cent of drivers and leave it unchanged for another 30 per cent.
Transurban told investors it welcomed toll reform and said it was committed to delivering greater value to customers and improving efficiency.
Its statement to the ASX noted there was "significant opportunity ... to identify and deliver road transport solutions" in a growing Sydney.
Australian Associated Press
