Auckland mayoral election: Traffic tax could help ease super city's congestion conundrum

Tuesday, 1 October 2019

Some of the Auckland Mayoralty candidates for 2019 - John Tamihere, Phil Goff, and Craig Lord.

Leading mayoral candidates John Tamihere and Phil Goff agree a congestion tax might be the answer to solving Auckland's crippling traffic problems.

Goff, Tamihere and first-time candidate Craig Lord have clashed in one last debate before polling day on October 12.

Leading contender John Tamihere has advocated for a congestion tax to get big trucks off Auckland's roads during peak hours.

Talk of congestion charges for Auckland motorists is not new, with authorities last year confirming they were forging ahead with a 'compelling case' to charge Aucklanders the road user tax.

Stuff previously reported Auckland Council and the Government were continuing to investigate 'congestion pricing' as a method to ease traffic, by charging road users at different times of the day and locations throughout the city.

* Goodnight to Goff's baby: Auckland Mayor's bed tax crying out for rethink

Meet the candidate- Phil Goff

* Auckland mayoral election: John Tamihere's $80m council building up-sell allegation rejected

* Auckland mayoral election: Goff's eleventh hour homeless policy gets Tamihere tongue lashing**

In a rare show of unity, Goff and Tamihere agreed an Auckland congestion tax was worth exploring.

'John and I agree that's a possibility,' the incumbent said.

'If you have congestion tax, you do away with the Regional Fuel Tax.'

Earlier in his campaign, Tamihere, who wants scrap the fuel tax, said his congestion tax would target heavy vehicles in particular.

First-time Auckland mayoral candidate Craig Lord was all for some form of traffic charge, floating electronic tolls.

He wants to reduce trucking on central city roads between 9am to 5pm to relieve peak-hour congestion, imposing a congestion charge on trucks if necessary.

Lord, meanwhile, backed the introduction of electronic tolls.

'Let's ditch this fuel tax and instead put … a tax there on congestion,' he told voters on Tuesday night.

'Why do we need alternative routes? If you're going to use that road, user pays.

Auckland Mayoral candidate Craig Lord sits down with Stuff reporter Nick Truebridge to discuss his ambitions as Auckland's mayor.

'Just get on with it.'

The Government has shown a willingness to look at some form of congestion charge for Auckland motorists.

The charge was designed to encourage road users to change the time, route or way they travel.

The National government began looking into congestion charges for Auckland in June 2017, while in the lead up to the general election Labour campaigned hard on introducing a fuel tax to help pay for Auckland transport infrastructure.

Last February, it was reported Goff, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Transport had given approval for the project to proceed to phase two.

Sitting Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says a congestion tax would be years away under his watch.

That work would evaluate different pricing options, before reaching a recommendation on whether or not congestion charges should be introduced.

On Tuesday, Tamihere and Goff said the charge was unlikely to be introduced in their first terms.

Meet the Candidate: John Tamihere.

Goff said he could not see it being introduced for the next three to five years, adding commuters first needed other options, such as the City Rail Link (CRL) and light rail.

'Is it something that is an option for the medium term?' he asked.

'Yes, I think it has to be, but only after a long period of consultation where you do set out the details of what the congestion tax would mean to you,' he said.

Goff told a raucous crowd at Greenlane's Jack Dickey Community Hall a 'whole mixture of solutions' were needed to solve Auckland transport woes, which cost the region's economy an estimated $1.3 billion every year.

'No city in the world has sought to solve the problem of congestion by building more motorways,' he said.

'Yes, we've got to improve roadways, but yes we need public transport, yes we need active transportation modes like walking and cycling.'

Goff had continued to support light rail and CRL during his mayoralty.

Meanwhile, Tamihere continued his attack on Auckland Transport (AT), whose strategies he claimed were designed to 'harass people out of their cars'.

'To believe that Kiwis will be out of their motor vehicles at the flick of a switch is just not true,' he said.

'And you can't make war on them as we segue into new solutions and new responses and that's why the AT Board's got to go.'

Tuesday night's debate was host by the Taxpayers' Union-backed Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance.

It was moderated by Taxpayers Union executive director Jordan Williams.