Variable Road Pricing (VRP) is a form of Urban Road Pricing, that Tauranga City Council is considering.
A summary document available on Tauranga City Council titled “SmartTrip variable road pricing, A fast-track to faster journeys, reduced congestion and less carbon emissions” website describes the concept as…
“SmartTrip would charge all vehicle users for access to Tauranga’s main transport corridors. The charge would vary, depending on the time of day, day of the week and traffic demand. It is similar in concept to the charges applied to toll roads and would include using prepayment systems and vehicle recognition technology. The introduction of SmartTrip would require new legislation, as well as more detailed work on its benefits and implications and a significant community consultation process to ensure the concept was supported.”
According to a September 2023 press release on the Tauranga City Council website:
“As part of the Council’s forthcoming long-term plan consultation process, we will be seeking community feedback on the possibility of introducing variable road pricing…
… “Essentially, SmartTrip would replace the current toll road charges with variable charges across Tauranga’s highway corridors, with higher costs during peak travel times and lower costs when demand is less. Its intent would be to encourage people to think about their road use and, where they can, change their travel time, work from home, share their vehicle use, or use another transport mode like public transport, cycling or walking. Those who chose to or had to drive at peak travel times would enjoy a faster trip, saving them time and in many cases money…
… A SmartTrip proof-of-concept study has been carried out by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and Council, to assess the potential benefits and impacts of road pricing on our road network. Based on network-wide modelling, the study indicates that variable road pricing could have significant positive impacts on the way our transport network operates, as part of an integrated package of managing demand and network and service improvements…
… If there is a reasonable level of support for further investigating this concept, we’ll work with Waka Kotahi and our SmartGrowth partners to prepare a business case which will provide the detail needed to bring a formal proposal to the community.” Tauranga City Council Commissioner, Stephen Selwood, SmartTrip – a possible solution to Tauranga’s traffic congestion issues.
According to the proof-of-concept study on Variable Road Pricing (VRP), people’s acceptance or opposition matters…
“For VRP to be implemented, even if enabled by legislation and the with the benefits significantly outweighing the disbenefits, communities need to agree that their transport problems and opportunities must be addressed; that there is no effective alternative to road pricing; and that the people who pay will receive a tangible benefit. Road pricing is a rational way to allocate the scarce resource of road space. This concept has proven to be effective in other jurisdictions and the enabling technology is already used in Tauranga in limited ways. The primary determinant of whether or not road pricing can be implemented, at a place-based level, is social licence, or in other words, the acceptance by communities to pay to drive on the roading corridors.”
On page 14, the same study also summarises some potential reasons for community opposition…
“Communities may oppose a road pricing scheme for a variety of reasons, some specific to a proposed scheme in the local context. Broad reasons to oppose schemes include: road pricing may be perceived as anti-car; people do not want to pay additional prices generally; privacy concerns; and affordability. Specific reasons to oppose schemes include: communication failure by the scheme proposer; negative (accessibility) impacts on existing businesses; the use of net revenue does not give the pay-as-you-go driver a tangible benefit; people may not want to pay a price for a service where there is no congestion relief benefit; and there are limited viable alternatives to having to drive and pay the cost.”
Another concern is that this sort of scheme is changing what is normal in New Zealand. The norm in New Zealand was that we had Freedom of Movement as a right. This scheme is trying to change that norm into one where people’s travel is routinely tracked and monitored by the authorities, travel is then treated like a privilege rather than a right. You will be expected to apply to travel (download the app or setup an account) and pay for the privilege of using roads which were once free. Another norm-changing aspect is that councils are putting less focus on designing and building infrastructure to serve the needs and wants of the majority of a people in a city. Instead, councils are putting more focus on designing the city infrastructure to change people’s behaviour. Often this infrastructure is designed to penalise, punish, and/or frustrate people to “mode shift” away from using their private automobiles. The willingness of authorities to increase penalties, punishment, and frustration in efforts to battle people’s resistance to “mode shift”, is likely to escalate the situation and cause wider damage to a city’s roading. Page 14 of the Tauranga proof-of-concept study explains this type of scenario…
“A significant implication of variable pricing on the main corridors, which are mainly state highways, is that there would be diversion of traffic onto local unpriced roads. These characteristics have a significant implication when pricing is applied to the network, because while people are sensitive to the introduction of a price (more than a change in price), some drivers would prefer to drive on unpriced streets rather than consider other alternatives. This behaviour would be more likely where there is an easily-accessible alternative to the corridor with pricing (e.g. Oceanbeach Road / State Highway 2). The shorter the trip, the more likely the diversion. The longer the trip, the higher the total cost under a VRP approach and the more likely trips may be deferred, or an alternative travel mode used. Therefore, less diversion of longer trips onto local roads. These local roads are not designed to carry high volumes of traffic or heavy vehicles, with the associated impacts on pavement failure and additional costs, as well as affecting community wellbeing and undermining intensification objectives. UFTI proposes transforming (including traffic calming) a number of these local roads, to ensure that they serve strategic land-use objectives.
- The modelled diversion onto local roads is based on two human behaviours: People are generally sensitive to price
- Drivers first inclination is to find an alternative route and keep driving, rather than change travel mode or defer travel.
There are several main responses to mitigate diversion from priced to unpriced roads:
- Price roads that are not priced
- Significantly increase the viability of travel alternatives, particularly through public transport services and priority route infrastructure improvements, and safe and connected walking and cycling facilities for shorter trips
- Traffic-calm the alternative corridors
- Price diverted/through trips without pricing purely local trips.”
The study’s authors go on to predict (or recommend)…
“The traffic-calming would need to be more significant than is the usual practice to best-serve local community needs.”
… indicating we can expect this “behavioural change” battle to escalate into more extreme installations of speed bumps on the roads which have not been converted into the “pay-as-you-go” roads with the installation of vehicle-recognition, surveillance technology. This “more significant” than usual “traffic calming” sounds like it is intended to punish the motorists until they get back on those “pay-as-you-go” roads, where they can be financially penalised until they finally “mode shift” and stop travelling by car.
In 2023, charging people money for travelling on pre-existing and previously free roads was unlawful in New Zealand. New Roads can legally have tolls to pay for their construction and maintenance. Those proposing to introduce Variable Road Pricing (or Urban Road Pricing) will need central government legislation to allow these schemes to operate. Public opposition is known to be effective in halting these schemes. This is acknowledged in the International Experience and Policy Trends in Urban (Including Dynamic) Road Pricing report (pages 35 and 40)…
“Social licence for urban road pricing is difficult to obtain, as is seen by the dearth of cities that have implemented the policy, compared to those that have investigated it or even discussed it. It is notable that there is urban road pricing on a significant scale in only five countries in Europe (UK, Sweden, Italy, Norway and Malta), notwithstanding the significant commitment of the European Union towards reducing emissions from transport. Furthermore, in the United States, only New York looks likely to introduce pricing in the near future, despite extensive policy commitments in many other cities (e.g., San Francisco, Seattle, Boston) to reduce emissions, primarily due to the difficulties in obtaining public acceptability…
…Urban road pricing is undoubtedly one of the most controversial and potentially divisive transport policy initiatives that can be implemented in a city. Design and consultation should seek to clearly communicate objectives and how pricing will help meet those objectives, and communicate in particular to those who will pay as to how it should benefit them.”
Articles related to this issue:
RNZ articles on congestion charging and time of use charging (July-August 2024)
New Zealand Initiative Report: Driving Change – How road pricing can improve our roads
