Charge drivers by mile

Report flags user-pays shake-up to rego

WITHIN 10 years, motorists could be slugged charges based on when, where and how far they drive, and even their car’s impact on the environment, but petrol excise and car rego would be scrapped.

The suggestions are part of an Infrastructure Australia report to be released today looking into growth issues that will hit Australia’s capital cities over the next 30 years unless proper planning is undertaken.

It calls for massive overhauls to planning and road use and major investment in public transport to prevent the nation’s biggest cities losing their livability and turning into urban sprawl choked with congestion.

One of its key recommendation is a user-pays system to fund building new and maintaining existing roads.

This would include charging motorists for when and where they drive and the distance they travel and basing it on their car’s impact on the environment.

States would have to dump car registration charges and the Federal Government would have to drop its petrol excise, while all cash raised would be quarantined only for use on road networks.

People would be encouraged to travel at off-peak times by being charged more during peak hours.

The changes could turn the daily commute to work into an expensive exercise, but could see petrol prices drop 40¢ a litre and save $360 to $700 on registration costs.

Infrastructure Australia chief executive Philip Davies said the means to charge based on time of day, location and distance existed, but the issue was determining the best way for it to be done.

“The technology already exists, it’s not a challenge,” he said.

“The challenge is how to make it fair, efficient and sustainable.

“The starting point is understanding the problem we’re trying to solve ... how do we pay for roads going forward? Until that’s done it’s too early to say what the next step might be.”

Mr Davies said the Federal Government should initiate an inquiry in the near future to look at how roads would be funded into the future.

He said this separate report should consider the details and the specifics around how road users should be charged on a pay-per-use method.

The report said any funds collected through this method should be quarantined and used only for upgrading and maintaining the road networks.

The changes could also be used to manage driver attitudes and congestion.

“Demand could be managed through changes to pricing, such as incentivising offpeak use or charging a premium to use congested roads during peak periods,” the report said.