The economic benefits delivered by our tolled roads in our major Australian cities are well understood. However, the commercial models and the associated pricing on which these projects were developed has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years. Cost of living pressures, together with the affordability of these tolls, has been at the forefront of this debate, together with the potential to move to a network tolling solution. There is little doubt that moving forward, additional major arterial road infrastructure is going to be required in our major cities to support increasing levels of mobility.
Told assets are inevitably going to be part of that solution. The following criterion provides a useful means of reviewing and assessing Canada corridors. A high level of current and forecast congestion to underpin a strong economic case, a high willingness to pay for tolling provided the investment delivers significant travel time savings to the motorist, the maintenance of a free alternative for those wishing to avoid the payment of a toll, the capacity to exploit synergies within the existing toll road network, a willingness to critically review and consider innovative approaches to tolling technology and associated tolls.
Innovation in tolling technology is essential if we aspire to drive tolling reform in a manner that meets our aspirations from a economic, financial, and social perspective. This would seem to inevitably lead us toward distance based pricing with a far more nuanced approach towards market segmentation, the product suite, and associated tiles.
