Your thoughts on a congestion charge

[jjs 60]

Motorists could be stung with a congestion charge for entering and leaving downtown Wellington during rush hour, in an ambitious proposal to boost public transport use.

DomPost Article

What are your thoughts?

Personally, I'm all for it. As long as the equivalent tax is taken off petrol. These charges will hopefully change peoples attitudes and stop the "marginal" commuters from using their cars.

[hybrid 1040]

.... As long as the equivalent tax is taken off petrol.

do you really think thats going to happen ? ...

basically the road user pays yet again for poor government fore thought / road planning.

New Zealand bandaid approach to road design is appauling

[3 SERIES 92]

Im on the fence. Good idea when im not driving, bad when I am

I would like to know how they plan to implement the whole thing with the setout of Wellington???

[Grant 4]

Whilst slightly off topic here, what I would like to see is more "pay" roads. In Auckland i'd quite happily pay to use a road that has a lot less traffic than the current situation. I, do however, feel that there still needs to be alternative roads available free of charge. I spent a bit of time in Sydney two years ago, and the toll roads seemed to work well there (I was always a passenger, and never drove them myself - but they seemed to work, and traffic was always very free flowing on them).

I'm not too sure of a congestion tax though. I guess it depends on the quality of public/alternative transport. If these are good, and accessing the central city (I'm thinking Auckland as much as Wellington here) is easy by alternative means then a congestion tax is a good idea.

If there are very few viable options to get into the CBD, then I'm not in favour of it.

Cheers

Grant

[Mike 1]

In aus they just take a picture of your plate, probably the easiest way to do it instead of issue everycar in the country with some electronic tag thing.

[mr E34 11]

User pays gone mad, another dopey pc idea like carbon credits etc etc etc.

[3 SERIES 92]

In aus they just take a picture of your plate, probably the easiest way to do it instead of issue everycar in the country with some electronic tag thing.

Yea, my thoughts exactly. Good luck to the person having to check all the plates!

[hybrid 1040]

Just pointing out whilst obvious .. a congestion charge isnt the same as a toll road or road user tax .. Its not going to be spent on roading upgrades and or public transport upgrades... so I ask you... what is the point?

If were going to be spent on something that would benifits ones city of residence then im all for it.

[Mike 1]

I think the article said it was going to pay for more public transport, which I completely agree with. get people out of cars and into public transport or push bikes - provided a quality transport system is there. this problem is only going to get worse and building more roads isn't the answer. (well long term anyway)

Thing that i thought was stupid was that hybrids might be exempt, f**king dumb idea. a small diesel as little or even less gas and doesn't have all the manufacturing impacts that a hybrid does with it batteries and other associated bits. then there's the problem of what to do with the batteries when they die.

Edited April 18, 2008 by Mike

[my_e36 43]

Depends on where the money goes I guess. Like Hybrid said, if it goes who the council for the area that was collected from then it's good.

For London, I think you pre-pay the charge before you drive into the city where there's camera to get your plates.

[Wom 0]

More people using public transport?

It's already crowded to the max on the trains and buses.

They also put up the public transport prices and I'm still yet to see any improvement at all (this is why I've started driving into work).

Wellington's traffic isn't so bad, maybe they should be trying this in Auckland instead?

I can get from north Upper Hutt to Wellington city in 35 to 40 minutes in peak hour, not really that bad considering it takes 20 minutes at night time with stuff all traffic.

The longest it's ever taken is an hour, still not really a big deal ... the trains are constantly late getting into town and take 45 minutes plus.

That and they are way overcrowded, uncomfortable, heaters usually cranked up to max so it fast becomes a sweat box - this also means that the windows have to be opened - not good when it's raining as no-one seems to give a sh*t if the person behind them is getting soaked. Also I find everyone on the trains to be quite inconsiderate of others, they just don't care if they are disturbing anyone else, and everyone is very pushy.

I also think it's bloody rude that they want to set up charges in Lower Hutt and Petone too. Gee sting us once, not bloody 3 times on the way to and from Wellington.

I've heard a lot of people say, "why don't you just move into the city and walk to work?"

Um, gee maybe because I don't like living in apartments, I don't like the crowds in the city and I'm not rich enough to pay the ridiculous rent prices in the city.

[ThreeOneEight 0]

What a ridiculous idea. Since when was Wellington ever "congested"? And do they not know that public transport is exclusively for communists and gays? What kind of image are they trying to give of Wellington here? That we are a city of Bolsheviks and lezzers? Oh right, public servants. Sorry.

[Braeden320 0]

Whilst slightly off topic here, what I would like to see is more "pay" roads. In Auckland i'd quite happily pay to use a road that has a lot less traffic than the current situation. I, do however, feel that there still needs to be alternative roads available free of charge. I spent a bit of time in Sydney two years ago, and the toll roads seemed to work well there (I was always a passenger, and never drove them myself - but they seemed to work, and traffic was always very free flowing on them).

I'm not too sure of a congestion tax though. I guess it depends on the quality of public/alternative transport. If these are good, and accessing the central city (I'm thinking Auckland as much as Wellington here) is easy by alternative means then a congestion tax is a good idea.

If there are very few viable options to get into the CBD, then I'm not in favour of it.

Cheers

Grant

Very Good Point re: Toll Roads

I spend 3weeks out of a month here in Brisbane at the moment setting up 3 new branches of my familys company.

There are plently of toll roads here and the system works well. You don't even have to stop, I have a transponder in the car that you credit every month and when you go through a toll booth it debits it.

Most Tolls are between $1-3 for a car.

Drove down to Armidale (Nsw) on the New England Highway on the weekend. 460k in 5hours without speeding. It is testement to the good roads they build here. Plently of passing lanes etc.

The speed that they are building roads over hear is amazing, 24hours a week 7days.

The only thing you have to watch for is Kangaroos - Bloody scarey when you come across them at night

[Braeden320 0]

In aus they just take a picture of your plate, probably the easiest way to do it instead of issue everycar in the country with some electronic tag thing.

Really? Most Cars in Queensland have Transponders, Not sure about the other states - E-Toll

[Mike 1]

Really? Most Cars in Queensland have Transponders, Not sure about the other states - E-Toll

sorry, should have said melbourne, not sure on the other states. how would they work the transponders here? every car in wellington gets one? or if you use the roads without one you get fined? what about out of towners?

More people using public transport?

It's already crowded to the max on the trains and buses.

They also put up the public transport prices and I'm still yet to see any improvement at all (this is why I've started driving into work).

I can normally get a set on the hutt line during peak hour. maybe a couple standing in each car to or from petone, hardly crowded to the max?

plus they've got another 70 train cars coming at a cost of $300 mill or something like that. and another 60 odd trolley buses.

Edited April 18, 2008 by Mike

[jimbo01 0]

Typical. Rather than build a public transport infrastructure that people want to use, these wankers want to make the alternative so costly that people will have no option finaincally but to use run down overcrowed public transport.

In Wellington they are talking about taking out the seats to make more standing room - so from Wellington to Upper Hutt thats 45 minutes standing in a unstable train 2x a day. OOhh lets.

In Summer we can enjoy the afternoon armpit odor of some bogon who has never heard of anti perseperant. Everyone can sweat in the non airconditioned units, sometimes with heaters going. Who needs a sauna? Bonus!

In winter you can slide arround on the wet floors, freeze your butt off, for sure the heaters that managed to be on in summer won't work. Enjoy the subtle aroma of wet people in a crowded space. Then walk another 10-20 minutes to the centre of town in the icy cold / wind / rain / or all 3 combined. Then walk back at the end of the day - now with a cold. Of course you could take a bus, for another $2 each way. Then when the trains don't run - then what - when your kids are 30km away?

I just don't understand why more people don't use it. Whats wrong with us! What idiots for whats to drive in our own self contained little worlds on wheels. We deserve to be punsihed.

This is the same public system that puts's it's prices up when petrol / deisel prices go up. THE TRAINS ARE ELECTRIC!. So what has the price of diesel got to do with it? They do it so that the buses don't end up more expensive than trains or some similar bullshit justification.

When the Wellington system got a 20% spike in usage, when uour cahnce of getting a seat went down, they put the prices up (even though the trains still only had 1 driver, 1 ticket guy, and the same number of carridges - so there revenue was already up, and their cost were the same!).

So based on such wonderful performance lets take more money from drivers and give to these people to spend in such a obviously effiecient way.

Face it - we live in a democracy where single agenda greenish facists can get their policys in, with only 5% or less of people voting for them, so the so called majority party can protect their misrable 200k a year jobs (bugger bettering the country - or the voters). It doesn't matter if it doesn't work, it doesn't matter if it screws us over, what matters is that they stay in power.

Aaahhh - that feels better - now where is another beer?

[E30-323ti 66]

I know exactly what you are saying.

Public transport isn't appealing if it's not:

-Comfortable

-Convenient

-Economic

For the last 10yrs it has served me well, and still does.

Sure somethings just piss you right off, like having to catch the train on the way to melling to get a seat in the morning 'cause it's overcrowded by the time it gets back to western hutt, and the reason is there are 2 less carriages than a year ago & it cost me more $14/month for the luxury (esp. on these wet days).

But it still fits the criteria above, FOR ME, that is.

Even still at $96/month (up from $72/month 10yrs ago) it is still under a 1/3 of running (gas/parking) & maintaining (WOF Reg. Tyres insurance) even the most boring of automobiles.

So No, "congestion charges" don't effect me.

If they are going to implement something like it, they should really look at promoting "car pooling"

If the fee is say $1 then a discount of 25c/ for each passenger (over 2), so if you're loaded up, it's a free commute.

But in all reality, Wellington doesn't have a congestion problem, peoples tolerance is lower thats all.

When I need to take a work car home/to work at peak hour, average would be 1/2hr.

About the same if I rode my bike or took the train.

Spend some time in Auckland or other bigger cities overseas and you'll see congestion!!!

[Gus 5]

who cares, its in wellington?

they will do it..they have done it here and as with most govt laws people whinge and bitch then roll over and take it....and then the inevitable price increases is much the same situation once the govt realises how much money they make

have no idea about wellington traffic, havent seen enough of it to comment + i walk to work so cant complain - about costs of public transport - most londoners pay around £100 a month to get to work n back everyday

[Braeden320 0]

sorry, should have said melbourne, not sure on the other states. how would they work the transponders here? every car in wellington gets one? or if you use the roads without one you get fined? what about out of towners?

You dont have to use a transponder they still have booths here where you can pull up and pay with money,

A transponder is just and easy way of doing it if you travel the toll roads often, Yes if you used just a transponder it would cause some initial logistics to get it sorted however once up and running they are very efficient.

QLD Roads give you the transponder, No monthly costs or no setup costs - Just the tolls you use.

Anyway - Wellington Traffic is nothing compared to other large citys around the world.

Edited April 18, 2008 by braeden.

[martyyn 2]

Wellington traffic is laughable compared to the 2 1/2 hour hike I used to have (each way) around London !

I live 50 yards from the bus stop and work right next to one (both on the same route), but the journey to and from home on the bus takes nearly an hour because they enter the city at the furthest point from where I need to be.

Ive waited for 45 mins before in the pouring rain for a bus and then three have turned up all of them packed and the first two refused to stop.

For the couple of weeks that I did it, Id say I had to stand for the entire journey at least 80% of the time and the attitude and quality of the drivers was just plain dangerous with that many people all standing.

Even with taking my kids to school, I can leave my house at 8.45, park in the building next door to work and be at my desk by 9.10. My drive home is leaving my desk at 6 and walking in the door at 6.15, public transport just doesnt compete.

[kiwi535 538]

congestion tax....laughable.Make long term parking more expensive and short term relatively cheap.Petrol prices will start doing it automatically

[M325is 0]

Just another unnessasary charge, this will only put more money in the council pocket. Its just as bad as parking wardens!