Transport Minister rules out congestion charging for Christchurch

Friday, 17 January 2020

Motorists will not be charged for driving on Christchurch roads, with the idea being ruled out by Transport Minister Phil Twyford.

Christchurch City Council staff have been looking for the past six month at whether fees could be used to reduce congestion on an upgraded Cranford St, which is expected to see a dramatic increase in traffic when the northern corridor opens this year.

Twyford ruled out congestion charging in Wellington last year and applied to same to Christchurch when approached by Stuff on Friday.

Rush hour traffic along Cranford St in Christchurch, south of Innes Rd.

It was a useful future tool, he said, but better public transport, cycling and walking options were needed for it to work.

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'[Christchurch] does not currently have the transport infrastructure and public transport services to make congestion charging fair.'

Ministry of Transport demand management and revenue manager Marian Willberg said ministry officials had not had any formal discussions with council staff regarding a fee or levy to reduce congestion.

Implementing a congestion charge on any roads in the city would require a change to the Land Transport Management Act, she said.

Drone footage filmed in June 2019 shows how much work has been done on the Christchurch Southern Motorway.

A map showing where Christchurch's northern corridor and stage two of the southern motorway will run.

Transport Minister Phil Twyford has ruled out congestion charging for Christchurch.

Christchurch City Council staff had been looking at congestion charging to help reduce traffic on Cranford St caused by the new northern corridor.

As part of the council decision approving projects in St Albans to address the effects of the northern corridor, head of transport Richard Osborne said the council asked staff to investigate pricing mechanisms to manage future traffic demand.

That investigation was still being completed and would report back to the Urban Development and Transport Committee, he said.

Committee chair Cr Mike Davidson said a congestion levy was one of several ideas being explored, and the council needed to keep working on solutions to reduce traffic for affected residents.

Davidson said he thought the idea of a levy was worth exploring if proceeds were invested into improving public transport, but 'if the minister's saying we can't do it then obviously there's no point going down that avenue, but we need to find out exactly why he's saying no'.