Motorway tolls. Or higher rates and petrol prices. Those are the options being presented to Aucklanders as a silver bullet to fix the city's road congestion and poor public transport system.
Yesterday, Aucklanders woke to the news that their journey to work on the motorway could cost $2 each way. The options stem from an independent advisory group, beavering away for two years on new funding sources to plug a $12 billion transport funding gap over the next 30 years. Tolls are not new to Aucklanders. They applied on the Harbour Bridge until 1984 and motorists now pay $2.20 on the Northern Gateway.
But the proposed "Motorway User Charge" is citywide, complex and among the largest of its kind in the world. It will cost the average household $350 a year, and $1500 or more for many motorists. The alternative option of higher rates and a regional petrol tax really is a no-flyer. It unfairly targets non-transport users, has fewer economic benefits and carries a rates timebomb.
Realistically, that leaves Mayor Len Brown with only one option to achieve his goal of sorting out Auckland's transport problems.
To introduce tolls on 119 motorway on-ramps at a cost of $108 million, Brown must do two things: get the support of Aucklanders and get the support of the Government to pass any new taxes into law.
Gaining support in Auckland will be no easy matter without a clear sense of the benefits.
The Government is happy for Auckland to debate funding, but remains sceptical about the options.
That leaves Brown with an unpalatable third option. No additional funding and the city grinding to a halt. That was the bleak message from advisory group chairman Stewart Milne.