No way we'll pay for roads already built, say readers

Most readers who have responded to the Herald's Beating the Logjam investigation this week of pricing options raised by the Ministry of Transport are strongly opposed to paying to use Auckland roads which have already been built.

"What we do need is responsible expenditure of road and petrol taxes on improved roads and public transport at a cheaper subsidised rate," said Epsom Girls Grammar School science director Graham Foster.

"To journey from Glendene to Epsom each day is impossible by public transport."

Stuart Simpson said he did not trust the Government or Auckland local authorities to recycle the proceeds into public transport.

"Adding these extra costs to getting to work is just another tax," he wrote. "It doesn't matter how you package it, you can bet your bottom dollar it will go into the national slush fund. The New Zealand taxpayer is not a cash cow. We are under-paid and over-taxed ... it is no wonder we are losing 600 people a week to overseas."

Steve Cox, an Australian who moved to New Zealand about 18 months ago, said he was amazed at the "total ineptitude of the lame, gutless politicians" in this country.

"How can they possibly consider something as draconian as this parking levy [one of five pricing options] without offering a viable alternative to the people of Auckland?" he said.

"The time has long past when crucial planning for rail, ferry and additional roading should have begun to be executed.

"Auckland is getting close to that tipping point when cities begin economic decline because they no longer have the infrastructure to support themselves and it becomes too difficult to do business there."

But not all readers were as scathing about the notion of charging Aucklanders for the privilege of using their cars in dwindling public space.

"I think your articles about the proposed road-pricing scheme have not focused enough on the pressing long-term need to reduce motor vehicle use within urban areas," wrote Julie Anne Center, admittedly from overseas, at the University of Berkeley in California.

"It is true that individuals will be affected, to the tune of $900 a year, but that is only fitting and fair, as the use of motor vehicles carries with it an enormous cost on the planet, not to mention the health, safety and general well-being of other residents."

Auckland recruitment specialist Shaun Bowler said drivers should be charged the actual cost of providing roads. He was "sick of having my tax dollars used to subsidise everyone in the automotive, oil and civil construction industries from Dick Cheney down".

He said he had invested thousands of dollars in information systems to allow his staff to work from home and asked why roads users and industries feeding off them should get taxpayers' dollars "to prop up 19th century technology like the internal combustion engine".