Harold today: Mayors want tolls on exisiting roads!

[NinjaBoy]

Some things I wonder about...
Why did they spend all that money on the new Nelson St off ramp to change it from the right to the left side of the motorway?
If any one knows, please tell me.

Same reason they changed the NW into the city to the LHS.

I use the RH lane past N Street everyday and it has made a difference apart from the temp 70KM signs ... but over time ppl have taken them as guides anyway.

Real test will be when the holidays are over and the School/Uni rush hours comes on !!!!!

[jahrasti]

[QUOTE=Road Rash]I hear in Europe, particualy france you have to pay to use private roads.

So if you want to go on the higway take a ticket where you get on and redem it when you get off and get charged per distance.

I havent seen this first hand so can anyone verify this.

Yeah ,in Italy you get a ticket from the booth and jump on the motorway,We were in a rental and doing 170 in it and we were getting passed like we were walking it was great.Once we got to our exit there was another booth give them the ticket and you pay distance travelled it was great. Imagine if we had that from auckland to wellinton with good speed limits you could use it for bussiness, travel etc then use back roads for the weekend.The toll charges could pay for road maintenance(yeah right)

[ManDownUnder]

They seem to forget that we (their boss and taxpayer) have ALREADY paid for these roads...

No they haven't - they're raising money to pay for the new roads...

Don't get me wrong - I'm none too pleased about it either, but it's the way of the world. Globally you can find very few expanding cities that don't have tollroads.

[MisterD]

I hear in Europe, particualy france you have to pay to use private roads.

That's the case with Motorways in France, but it's worth it because they are empty and there's hardly a copper on the road. Everyone cruises along at 110mph

[ManDownUnder]

but it's worth it because they are empty

Sounds like Auckland's public transport... right up until you mentioned high speed

[Ixion]

No they haven't - they're raising money to pay for the new roads...

..

uh-huh. And these new roads are going where ? And the toll monies will be kept in separate funds , only usable for new roads ? And the amount of money generated by the tolls AFTER administration costs is going to pay for how many miles of new road? (remember why they dropped tolls on the Harbour Bridge? Cos the administration cost of collecting the tolls was more than the tolls brought in )

[janno]

In Brisvegas and Perth they have 4 and 8 lane roads as normal thoroughfares in the suburbs. They have the room to really spread out but still the traffic is hellish. 99% of the cars are single occupant. The Gateway motorway is two lanes each way only, and the on and off ramps are about 100m long, usually straight off to a set of lights so the whole shebang slows down to a crawl anyway. And they are trying to ban lane splitting here?! Absolutely mad.

[ManDownUnder]

uh-huh. And these new roads are going where ?

A few off the top of my head...

Here

Here

Here

Or you can take a peek at the overall summary here

And the toll monies will be kept in separate funds , only usable for new roads ? And the amount of money generated by the tolls AFTER administration costs is going to pay for how many miles of new road? (remember why they dropped tolls on the Harbour Bridge? Cos the administration cost of collecting the tolls was more than the tolls brought in )

I have no gripe with any of this. I hate bureaucracy.

It's best summed up in a Bob Jones quote from his book on Property. I don;t have it verbatim, but it's to the effect of "the sounds of salvation ringing in my ears when I was told 'you'll never get a job in the Public Service again!'"

I agree - collect the money, pay for the damned road, stop collecting the money. Don't use it to support those on the public tit (either via perk, salaried or beneficiary income streams).

Don't even make it visible to the bastards so they don;t know about it.