Congestion charges move closer, could Whangārei benefit? John Williamson

The multimillion-dollar shared pathway between Whangārei’s CBD and Kamo connects multiple schools but has it helped reduce traffic congestion?

Congestion charging moved a little closer a couple of weeks ago, when Parliament voted the Land Transport Management (Time of Use Charging) Amendment Bill, passed its first reading.

Legislation will allow cities to introduce time-of-use charges, to encourage drivers to avoid certain roads or urban zones, during peak times.

The issue is a big deal in Auckland but I wonder whether Whangārei District Council will ever get to consider and take up such revenue opportunities.

I play bowls a couple of days a week. Monday morning social bowls, and club day on Thursday.

I live in Maunu just outside the city environs. The bowling club is in Kamo, the other side of town.

I need to be there between 8.30am and 8.45am to get my spot. The across-town trip normally takes 15 minutes, but at that time in the morning, it’s a bit of a lottery, 25 minutes on a good day.

The cause of the extra 10 minutes, is schools and school traffic.

But I have a choice, I can take a pleasant country drive through Kara and Kokopu Roads and come into Kamo down Three Mile Bush Rd or Pipiwai Rd.

I usually take the back road to avoid the Maunu Rd congestion. The time taken is much the same, but I hate being held up in traffic.

That crafty idea has been confounded these last couple of months, as major roadworks with traffic lights and stop/go, are taking place on both these alternate routes, increasing the time taken, but I still prefer the country drive.

It seems to me that these sorts of alternate time and route decisions are what congestion charging is all about.

The message seems to be that people are spending too much wasted time in their cars.

An Auckland Transport report found that Aucklanders sit in traffic for a combined 29 million hours a year, and estimates that congestion will cost the city $2.6 billion a year from 2026, when factoring in time delays, and other macroeconomic costs, such as reduced housing affordability and supply chain disruption.

The answer in the legislation is to allow councils to charge for being on certain roads at certain times of the day, with only emergency vehicles being the exception.

The alternative to being charged will be to use public transport, or shared pathways for pedestrians and cycles, encouraging alternate routes and travel times, or even encouraging working and learning from home.

It did briefly cross my mind, that if schools are the main culprit in causing congestion at peak times of the day, why should we not bring schools into play as part of the solution?

Schools could agree among themselves to have different opening and closing times, could organise walking school buses, or encourage their kids to bike or walk to school using the multiple, recently created shared pathways.

Then, I figured that schools have got enough to worry about, what with co-ordinating buses between schools, ensuring their kids get adequately fed, truancy, and meeting the evolving education standards and expectations of the public.

Schools need to focus on their own environments rather than be concerned about the roading infrastructure around them.

How is this for an enigma?

We have a multimillion-dollar shared pathway between Whangārei’s CBD and Kamo, which was ostensibly to connect multiple schools to a safe off-road environment, and reduce traffic congestion.

Now shortly, we will have a T2 traffic lane along the same route to ease the congestion between 7am and 9am. Has the shared pathway been a failure at getting school kids off the road at peak times?

According to the New Zealand Initiative’s, Dr Eric Frampton, congestion charging aims to turn the time cost that everyone experiences at rush hour into a monetary charge.

That time cost of congestion is pure waste. But a charge that clears congestion can raise revenue that does not have to be wasted. So long as the cost of collection does not outweigh the benefits achieved.

The legislation lets local authorities propose a congestion charging scheme. If a local authority does not propose one within three years, the minister can direct NZTA to initiate one.

Proposed schemes must improve traffic flow, while contributing to an effective, efficient and safe land transport system in the public interest.

NZAA, which represents 1.8 million private motorist members, has a position on congestion charging.

“Charges should only apply when and where needed to minimise congestion, they should be set at the lowest possible level to achieve a reasonable reduction in congestion, and reflect people’s ability to adjust travel times or modes.”

Generally, the AA as an organisation, is more supportive of congestion charging, than its average member.

So, there you go, watch this space on congestion charging, but don’t hold your breath about less peak time congestion.