Dr Matthew Birchall: Driving change - How road pricing can improve our roads

The New Zealand Initiative’s report proposes a comprehensive reform of the country's transport funding model. The report, Driving Change: How Road Pricing Can Improve Our Roads, authored by Senior Fellow Dr Matthew Birchall, argues that the current fuel tax based system is outdated and unfair.

Key points:

Dr Matthew Birchall: Why we need a User-Pays model to fund transport infrastructure

How New Zealand funds and finances infrastructure is a billion-dollar question. In Budget 2024, the Government forecasts that more than $68 billion will be spent on infrastructure over the next five years – a significant capital investment in roads, rail and other projects. Given the sums involved, it matters how this money is spent.

Unfortunately, the recent past paints a grim picture of New Zealand’s ability to invest wisely in infrastructure. The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission notes that despite spending around 5.5 percent of GDP on public infrastructure—higher than Australia and the OECD median—New Zealand ranks near the bottom 10 percent of high-income countries for infrastructure efficiency.

Dr Matthew Birchall: How to lose an election

Political strategists are obsessed with the art of winning elections. However, they sometimes overlook the equally impressive skill of losing them spectacularly. Enter Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who is currently putting on a masterclass in electoral self-sabotage.

Dr Matthew Birchall: Efficiency first in road pricing case

The Government plans to implement road pricing tools like congestion charging and toll roads. This will be an important first step in establishing a more rational transport system.

Over time, the transport funding model has become increasingly dysfunctional. Late last year, the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) observed that it will have to invest about twice as much as it expects to receive in revenue over the next decade – an annual funding shortfall of $4-to-$5 billion. In this context, a shift to road pricing and user-pays principles makes good sense.

However, its implementation is also likely to arouse passionate debate.

Dr Matthew Birchall: Is congestion charging the answer to Auckland's traffic woes?

Good ideas often take time to gain traction. Congestion charging is no exception.

A vast body of academic research and international experience backs congestion charging. It works by charging people who use certain roads during busy times. This encourages people to travel during quieter times or use other modes of transport.

Dr Matthew Birchall: Bridge to the future

The cancellation of KiwiRail’s $3 billion upgrade of the decrepit fleet of Cook Strait ferries provides an opportunity to finally build what New Zealand really needs: the Cook Strait Bridge.

This 27-kilometre monument to Kiwi ingenuity would show the world that we’re serious about infrastructure – and provide a handy escape hatch for those fleeing Wellington.

Dr Matthew Birchall: Road pricing debate shrouded in smoke and (rear-view) mirrors

Transport policy increasingly resembles a culture war, with Lycra-clad cycling enthusiasts pitted against V8-loving, gas-guzzling motorists. To put it another way, Kiwis are either champions of light rail or proponents of Roads of National Significance. There is no in-between, or at least that is how it seems.

Dr Matthew Birchall: On the move

On Monday, Transport Minister Simeon Brown released the long-awaited draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport. The GPS outlines the Government’s priorities for investment in New Zealand’s transport network over the next ten years and how it expects NZTA and local authorities to manage the $7 billion annual National Land Transport Fund.