Government weighs toll for Auckland Harbour Bridge - one proposal is $9 per trip
Tuesday, 17 February 2026
Ministers are seeking advice on charging motorists as part of efforts to fund what could become New Zealand’s largest infrastructure project.
More than 40 years after toll booths were removed from the Auckland Harbour Bridge, the Government is considering bringing them back - with the Infrastructure Commission proposing $9 a trip.
The idea has resurfaced as part of the country’s long-running struggle to fund a second Waitematā Harbour crossing, one of New Zealand’s most expensive and complex infrastructure challenges.
In its newly released 30-year strategy to address the nation’s infrastructure deficit, the Infrastructure Commission has proposed tolling both a future crossing and the existing bridge. Its high-level modelling suggests a $9 toll could raise between $7 billion and $9 billion over time, depending on how long it was in place.
It suggested $9 because it is the current value of the previous 2 shillings and 6 pence (25c) toll in 1959.
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The proposal is now under active consideration, with Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop seeking advice on whether the existing bridge should also be tolled.
The commission warned the new crossing - whether a tunnel or bridge - is unlikely to be affordable through traditional transport funding alone. At the same time, the current bridge faces growing pressure from maintenance needs, resilience risks and heavy daily demand.
About 200,000 vehicles use the Harbour Bridge each day - over 64 million annually.
The analysis found tolling only a new crossing would significantly limit revenue, while higher tolls could backfire by pushing drivers onto alternative routes and reducing overall income.
“Other funding mechanisms are possible, but would likely require non-users to contribute funding which may not be considered equitable or favourable,” the commission said.
Decision-makers would need to confirm the revenue potential from tolling or alternative tools such as Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act levies, and identify a funding package within that envelope.
In the meantime, the commission recommended extending the life of the existing bridge through time-of-use charging, interim busway improvements, and enhanced maintenance and monitoring.
Bishop said the project was expected to be the largest infrastructure investment in New Zealand’s history and would need to be financially self-sustaining.
“In theory, the new crossing should be able to wash its own face financially,” he said. “Whatever ends up being built will be tolled. The question is whether or not the existing connection is tolled.
“That’s a very big decision, and we’re taking advice on it. There are a range of very complicated decisions to be made around the funding and financing of that project.”
The Auckland Harbour Bridge was tolled from its opening in 1959 until 1984, when charges were scrapped after the construction costs were recovered. Any move to reintroduce tolls would mark a significant shift for Auckland motorists - and a politically sensitive one.
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown is already pushing back, dismissing the current crossing plans and the tolling discussion as misguided.
He told The Post the “idiotic proposal” to build a new bridge - or the “even more stupid” option of a tunnel alongside the existing crossing - should be abandoned.
Brown instead backs a harbour crossing at Meola Reef, which he argued would be significantly cheaper.
He said infrastructure decisions should be driven by economics and evidence, not political branding such as Labour’s light rail or National’s Roads of National Significance.
“[The] first step is to stop wasting money,” Brown said, pointing to the Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway, which he said cost far more than it should have, and warning similar overspending risks lay ahead.
Act leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said a $9 toll each way would equate to $18 everyday - $90 a week - which would was a steep price for someone already paying “tough bills”.
“I think you're going to struggle with that level of price. But you could imagine that maybe at a peak hour, when it was mostly busses and ride sharing, maybe for a part of the day. But I don't think making everybody pay $9 with no alternative is going to fly.”