Stubborn drivers won't bow to proposed rush-hour road tax

Sydney

In London, people moan about the weather. Parisians complain about doggy poo. And New Yorkers, well, New Yorkers complain about everything. But in Sydney, there is only one topic of universal displeasure: traffic congestion.

Newcomers are invariably surprised that a city so blessed with physical beauty - a sparkling harbour, immaculate parks and white surf beaches - should have made such a hash of its road system.

Indeed, the phrase 'road system' perhaps adds too much dignity to the nightmare of freeways, tollways, flyovers, bridges and tunnels. The issue reached a crisis point this week when the Spit Bridge - an archaic drawbridge connecting the city to the northern suburbs - jammed open for two hours, trapping thousands of commuters and causing widespread fury.

Faced with a state government whose only solution to traffic congestion is simply to build another road tunnel, a leading transport planner says the long-term solution is a congestion tax.

David Hensher, from the University of Sydney's Institute of Transport, does not favour a blanket congestion charge for the inner city (like that used in London), but a sophisticated, user-pays system based on the type of vehicle and time of travel. A similar system, which tracks vehicles via GPS units, will come into force in the Netherlands by 2011.

Professor Hensher calculates that the new congestion tax, if approved, would cut Sydney's commuter traffic by 8 per cent during peak periods, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save the state government the astronomical cost of new roads, bridges and tunnels.