Roads that lead nowhere

A new registration system can fix congestion problems
 Source: Flickr

I seriously do not understand the fetishism the Federal Government has with insisting that outdated road policies are the way of the future. For a PM that wants to call himself the "infrastructure Prime Minister", ignoring a Productivity Commission report that highly recommends a change to the road registration system and a call for governments to stop implementing expensive, "popular" and "sexy" projects, and instead focus on ones that are more worth while, you'd think he should listen!

But it's a great big new tax! 

The very phrasing that Tony Abbott gave (as reported by the ABC AM program), is that

"Tolls are a fact of life. We pay for road tolls, we pay for roads through our taxes, we pay for roads through our registration and we pay for our vehicles, so there's already a significant form of user-charging. This new form of user-charging, I suspect, is unlikely to ever be adopted by any government."

But changing the road registration scheme where users pay per km they drive, rather than a flat registration fee, is more equitable and reflective of a user-pays-toll-system. Someone who drives 100km a day will pay substantially more than someone who drives only 50km a week. It effectively becomes a user pays subsidised system; everyone pays taxes to have roads available, and those who use roads more pay more in tax (though their vehicle registration fee) for that service.

Who would it affect? 

It seriously is baffling to see why there is no public interest in this type of system. The only increased cost that would occur would be to those to travel a lot via road (such as affluent people) and transport businesses (taxis, trucks etc). Yet these are the groups that need the greatest incentive to change their transport behaviour. It is trucks and city commuters that clog up arterial roads during peak hour times. If they were charged more based on their driving habits, it would change some drivers behaviour, creating more space on the roads. And this would all magically be done without having to create new roads!

Saving money on future infrastructure costs, creating a more equitable user based system and encouraging more efficient transport usage.... yep, no government would ever want to adopt that.


Sources: 
Making road users pay could clear infrastructure gridlock - The Conversation
Tony Abbott rejects pay-per-kilometre plan in Productivity Commission report aimed at drivers - ABC AM radio program