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Last year, Auckland Council began work to bring congestion charges, referred to as ‘time of use charging’, to Auckland roads within two years.
At council’s Transport and Infrastructure Committee on March 7, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown raised questions with AT over the need for public consultation about the charge.
“If you consult first, as a result of feedback, we are going to reconsider it. If we ask everybody what we are going to do we’d never do anything,” Brown said.
As an example, he said “everyone opposed Whangaparāoa’s dynamic lanes, but someone was brave enough to do it, and now they love it.”
Mayor Brown said that he wanted two time-of-use charging roads active by mid-2025, so the public could get a feel for it. This would not actually charge drivers, but there would be signs saying, ‘if you were here at 9am, it would cost you $4.50’.
“Until they have seen it, they don’t know what it is. If you consult too early there will be people who say, ‘we don’t know’,” Mayor Brown said.
AT’s chief executive Dean Kimpton said council had been very clear that AT needed to better listen to, and understand, its communities.
“I am more than willing to do trials – but I want to acknowledge that we’re being asked to take our communities with us,” Kimpton said.
