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Sydney’s vast network of toll roads needs a complete overhaul to make fares fairer and more consistent, a review has found.
Individual motorway tolls could be lower across Sydney, but drivers would see charges cut both ways on the Harbor Bridge under a recommended ‘reset’ of the city’s $123 billion toll.
The independent interim report by the NSW Tolling Review, published on Monday, called for a complete restructuring of the city’s network of 13 toll roads, costing drivers $2.5 billion a year.
Sydney tolls cost drivers $2.5 billion a year.
New laws would put governments in the driver’s seat when it comes to pricing, while costs would be shifted from working-class suburbs to those in the more affluent east and north under proposed changes.
Toll schemes that offer regular users a refund every quarter would also be a thing of the past.
“These schemes have historically had relatively low take-up rates and are not particularly well targeted against disadvantage,” the report states.
“Concessionaires (toll operators) benefit significantly from any additional traffic generated by relief measures, but have no requirement to repay this benefit to the government.”
The report, by former competition watchdog Allan Fels and economist David Cousins, finds that many agreements – signed between the early 1990s and 2021 – had little room for change.
Pricing structures were practically set in stone, with changes in demand or technology over time not easily corrected.
Tolls were often priced mainly based on the perceived need to cover the operator’s costs rather than the need to manage traffic on the road network.
Under the Fels-Cousins restructuring, a unified rate structure with some subsidies would reduce rates for 44 percent of drivers and leave it unchanged for another 30 percent.
But there would be an end to ‘abnormal’ one-way charges for the benefit of some of those who use the Sydney Harbor Bridge, Harbor Tunnel and Eastern Distributor.
Premier Chris Minns said the burden fell on families who could least afford it
That would help spread the burden across the city with governments locked into a series of toll contracts that run until 2060.
Drivers are set to be billed about $123 billion in today’s dollars over the next 37 years, or an estimated $195 billion in nominal terms.
Roads Minister John Graham said the preliminary report confirmed what millions of motorists had long suspected.
“The toll contracts were designed with guaranteed financial returns to their owners and operators top of mind before the need for an efficient and affordable network for those using it,” he said.
‘Drivers came last in that equation.’
Premier Chris Minns said the burden fell on families who could least afford it.
“This is not fair,” he said.
‘It puts a huge burden on Sydneysiders trying to get to work, drop their kids off at school and get on with their lives.’
The full report is due to be published later in 2024.