An M7 toll sign on the M2 motorway. IT now costs up to $40 a day in tolls to travel to and from the north shore to the eastern suburbs of Sydney.
Drivers can expect to pay more as new roads like NorthConnex and Westconnex are built with money from extending, increasing and reintroducing tolls.
To help fund the Westconnex motorway tolls are returning to the M4 and M5.
To help pay for Northconnex tolls on the M7 will rise for trucks plus the M2 and Lane Cove Tunnel tolls may be extended.
NRMA local director Tim Trumper said if you need to drive across Sydney the only feasible choice is a motorway, run as a monopoly or by the NSW Government.
Motorways should refund tolls when there are avoidable delays for example for poor maintenance and late running road works, Mr Trumper said.
“It’s time motorists got what they paid for,” he said.
All other transport services are subject to independent price and performance oversight and toll prices should be no different, he said.
“Our preference is for the M7 model, the tolls on which are CPI-linked.”
A spokeswoman for Minister for Roads Duncan Gay said Northconnex will slash travel times and the entire Sydney Orbital network has largely been delivered through partnerships with private companies.
“If people find good value in good infrastructure, they will likely use it and motorists will always have a free alternative route,” the spokeswoman said.
When Transurban upgraded the M2 in 2013, at a cost of $550 million, the NSW Government contributed to the cost with a four-year extension of the tolls on the M2.
Transurban which, operates and co-owns many of Sydney’s toll roads including the M2, the M7, the Eastern Distributor, the Lane Cove and Cross City tunnels, has said it supports a user-pays system for roads. ANDY’S MARATHON TASK TO REALISE HIS OLYMPIC DREAM LEGENDARY MUSIC ICON’S SPIRIT LIVES ON Tollways from North to East:
The M2.
M2 toll charges November 13, 2000. Pic: Mick Tsikas.
Average daily trips 118,000 up from 107,000 last year.
Toll revenue 2014/15: $221 million
Opened to traffic in 1997, acquired by Transurban through an acquisition of Hills Motorway Group in May 2005, Hills group was valued at $2.07 billion.
Tolls until mid 2048.
M2 entry at Beecroft Rd to Lane Cove Tunnel Toll: $6.48 Lane Cove Tunnel.
Cartoon by Warren in 2008.
Average daily trips 82,000, up from 77,000 last year.
Toll revenue 2014/15: $75 million (including Military Rd off ramp)
Opened to traffic in 2007, acquired by Transurban in August 2010 for $630.5 million.
Tolls until 2037.
Lane Cove Tunnel Toll: $3.14
Military Rd off-ramp: $1.57. Harbour Bridge.
Tolls on the Harbour Bridge in the 1970s. Pic: Roads and Maritime Services.
Average daily trips 134,400 (measured on Cahill expressway in 2012) or 43 million for the bridge and Tunnel yearly.
Toll revenue 2012: $90 million
Opened to traffic 1932, owned by NSW Government, its cost was recovered in the 1980s, but the toll was kept and increased to recoup the cost of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel.
Bridge Toll (Mon-Fri.): 6.30 — 9.30am $4, 9.30am — 4pm $3, 4 — 7pm $4, 7pm — 6.30am $2.50 Eastern Distributor.
Eastern Distributor toll sign, January 6, 2000. Pic: Pip Blackwood.
Average daily trips 53,000, up from 51,000 last year.
Toll revenue 2014/15: $113 million
Opened to traffic in December 1999, acquired by Transurban (75.15 per cent) in 2007 in two parts with the majority a takeover of Sydney Roads Group for $1.26 billion
Tolls until 2048.
Toll to Eastern Sydney: $6.55
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