Road Pricing Study for Auckland

Congestion control feels like a secondary consideration in this document. It's very clear that Treasury refuses to allow debt to be taken on for public transport capital expenditure, so it has to be funded from taxes. Frankly Treasury can kiss my furry little butt.

But in the event that their intrasigence wins the day then I would plump for a daily parking surcharge because it would be cheap to administer and has at least some correlation to congestion (as opposed to a fuel surcharge). It would have to apply over a large proportion of the region to be fair and effective.

Businesses will howl because they'd find it difficult to pass the cost on to employees and customers without losing them. Too bad I say - so many employers make no effort to promote public transport usage. I know of unenlightened employers who reimburse employee parking costs but not public transport costs.

It would be infuriating if any of this money got diverted into things other than public transport. Actually I think it would be untenable for any non maintenance or safety related road spending to take place during the pt infrastructure buildout. So just hand it over Transit :)