Green MP warns public transport not ready for congestion charging

Wednesday, 12 November 2025

The Greens are warning that people may be left without practical alternatives for travel once congestion charges on driving start to bite.

The Land Transport Management (Time of Use Charging) Amendment Bill passed its third reading on Tuesday night with the unanimous support of Parliament - including the Greens. The law will allow councils to charge drivers tolls on busy roads at peak times.

While the scheme is designed to ease congestion and lift productivity by pushing travellers to off-peak times or other modes, Green spokesperson Julie Anne Genter said the Government had failed to adequately fund public transport to be a viable alternative for commuters, especially in terms of Wellington’s trains.

Genter was supportive of the idea overall, and said “the main issue is that the Government is trying to bring in more direct charges for cars, but they're not planning for the increase in demand for the alternatives”.

With fares for buses and trains increasing - including Metlink reintroducing full price fares for people aged under 25 - after funding settings for public transport were changed by the Government, Genter said some people would struggle to afford travel altogether.

A report from the regional council earlier this year showed a fall in commuter train punctuality and reliability, with the number of train passengers plummeting.

This year, the Greater Wellington Regional Council was forced to increase fares for buses and trains by more than they had in 16 years combined to meet Government demands.

Transport Minister Chris Bishop said he was surprised to see Genter criticising the congestion charging, saying the Green Party had supported it for years.

Public transport was an important component of making a congestion pricing scheme work properly, he said, which was why the bill allowed for the revenue raised to be recycled back into public transport.

“It's now ultimately over to local authorities to get on with it, and the Government will play its part in supporting that.”

Rail upgrades worth $143.6 million for Auckland and Wellington had been recently announced by Bishop, and he said the investment would address the most critical overdue renewals and help get services up to the standard that commuters deserve.

Decisions on time-of-use charging would be made by a scheme board chaired by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), which would hold the casting vote, alongside six representatives from local councils.

Public Transport Association Australia New Zealand (PTAANZ) chief executive Lauren Streifer hailed the introduction of ‘time of use charging’ enabling legislation.

She said reinvesting the funding raised from the scheme into the local transport networks where time of use charging was introduced was an “important feature”.

“Time of use charging will only work if we bring the community with us and reinvest the revenue in better transport networks,” she said.

“Investing in the services and infrastructure that provide choices for customers will go a long way to winning broad support.”