Tolling Auckland not user pays

Aucklanders might ask the following questions about Transit’s plan to charge tolls to fund the Avondale motorway extension:
*
1. Whether it is right that users of three projects already fully funded by Land Transport NZ, from fuel tax/road user charges revenue, should pay tolls to pay for a different road. The Greenhithe Deviation (under construction for the last couple of years), Mt Roskill Extension (under construction for several months) and the Manukau extension (approved for funding over two years ago) are likely to be tolled to pay for the uneconomic Avondale extension. Why? Because tolling the Avondale extension would raise little funds in itself – in other words, the project doesn’t deliver enough value to road users for them to be willing to pay for it – so Transit wants to force others to pay for it. How do you benefit from the Avondale extension if you drive from North Shore to Waitakere?
*
2. Should the final part of the Western ring road - the Avondale extension (going to Waterview) should be so heavily greenplated (tunnelled) that its no longer economically efficient? Does it need to be in a tunnel, adding hundreds of millions of dollars to its total cost?
*
3. With that “greenplating” the project now has a benefit/cost ratio below 1:1 Why should a project that – dollar for dollar – generates less benefits for users that it costs – be such a high priority? Once the other segments are completed, it may become more economic as traffic queues between Mt Roskill and Waterview, but meanwhile instead of being tied up in this project, the money will have generated far higher benefits elsewhere. Can you think of better ways to spend that money – such as roads in Waikato that are accident prone?
*
4. Note that the private sector isn’t interested in financing and tolling this road as a viable proposition – unlike toll roads in Sydney and Melbourne. This tells you that it isn’t about user pays, there isn’t enough traffic willing to pay tolls to justify the exhorbitant cost. When the private sector stays away, doesn’t that give a message? No it isn't the legislation doing it, despite Opposition claims.
*
5. The government commissioned a report on road pricing in Auckland. It came out resoundingly against tolling existing and future Auckland motorways to reduce congestion because it would see large amounts of traffic diverted onto parallel roads, which cannot handle the traffic well and expose pedestrians and local residents to safety and pollution risks. The Ministry of Transport/Treasury commissioned report says it is a bad idea to do, on a large scale, something Transit is going to do on a smaller scale. What is the effect of tolling going to be on parallel local roads, and the economics of these projects which were originally appraised as untolled roads? Why is nobody saying anything about this?
*
6. Why is the billing system for toll roads in New Zealand being funded from your petrol tax and road user charges, and not from borrowing against the future income from toll roads, like it is in Australia?
*
Now I support tolling new lanes - that makes sense and is user pays (and increasingly being adopted in the USA), and have no problem with tolling new roads as long as tolling raises enough money to pay for the road (the road not needing to be subsidised). Simply, there are a lot of questions that need asking - and they should be asked. You're being consulted on this. If I were you, I'd ask these questions, and continue until you get straight answers. I suspect the answers are:
- Avondale (Waterview) Extension is not economic of itself, but is politically and strategically appealing because it finishes a line on a map.
- There is enough money to fund every other stage of the Western Ring Route untolled.
- Tolling Avondale (Waterview) Extension will divert traffic to parallel roads and generate little revenue to fund it.
- Government has told Transit to build this road come hell or high water.
- Avondale (Waterview) Extension could have at least 30% of its costs removed if it wasn't being "greenplated" to meet legislative requirements.

*

UPDATE 1 – Loony lefty Auckland City Councillor Dr. Cathy Casey is opposing tolls too, not because of the dodgy economics but because:
*
“We don’t want fast roads for the rich and slow roads for the poor. It is the government that should be funding roads, not the people of Auckland – they have already paid their taxes.”
*
The poor have cars? I suppose she likes poor people in Christchurch paying over the nose for road maintenance through petrol tax (it’s cheap to do it there) while rich people in Gisborne underpay? She also seems to think the government doesn’t take money from Aucklanders, and that taxes have “been paid”. The people that should be funding roads are those who use them – people without cars shouldn’t, and they are more likely to be poor.
*
“Dr Casey says that “user pays” is unfair and penalises people on low incomes.”

*
Well duh, because they aren’t earning enough and it is an incentive to get them to be innovative and work to do so, unlike Dr Casey who has the economic intelligence of an imbecilic squirrel. So food and clothing should be paid for communally – hey sounds like North Korea, that works a wonder. Let’s abolish user pays, everyone can pay for everyone else – or maybe it could all be free… (now all sing and pass the drugs so you can keep evading reality).

*
“There are many low-paid workers who drive across this city every day from outlying districts where they are forced to live because of escalating house prices. They already have to pay increased petrol and parking fees. Paying a toll on top of that is just not an option.”

*
“Forced to live”? Well no, they live where they can afford- they could live in Invercargill instead. House prices escalate because of the sort of planning policies reality-evading morons like yourself put in place restricting supply of land for housing, and housing people want – don’t forget the rates you like imposing on people as well. You might also wonder why Auckland City Council doesn’t reduce parking charges and abolish its small 0.66c/l petrol tax to “ease the burden”, but I guess you like tax because it isn’t user pays, it’s “force everyone”.

*
Remember, even with my doubts about the road, it still is a new road – people driving now could stay on the current routes instead of using the new one. What a foaming at the mouth socialist halfwit she is - but hey, some of you voted for her!

*

The Greens are opposing it because it is user pays too - sort of - they don't like people paying tolls if the money is used to pay for roads, because roads are bad m'kay? In other words, the Greens would love it if the tolls were used to pay for a NZ only TV channel or hip hop music videos.

North Korea's nuclear test

Well, hardly a surprise.

*

There are those blaming George Bush for this.

There are those calling for military action.

*

The real answer is China. China has its boot poised above the windpipe of North Korea. Unfortunately, North Korea has a string of grenades wrapped around itself.

*

China supplies North Korea with the oil and electricity that enables it to barely function. It could cut these off and the regime could not sustain itself for long.

*

However - North Korea would probably pull the pin out of its grenades if this was done and throw them - after all, what would it have to lose? Kim Jong Il and his lackies would face being overthrown and losing everything.

*

So it is Cold War - icy cold. Not that it has ever been much better since 1953, nothing much has changed and the nuclear deterrent against North Korea has worked well since then. North Korea will not launch an attack on South Korea or Japan - for China would firmly crush its windpipe making it impossible to sustain conventional warfare. China will do this in exchange for the US NOT using nuclear weapons against North Korea - and frankly, South Korea would agree. However, if North Korea released a nuclear weapon upon South Korea or Japan, there would have to be a similar response in kind to the North.

*

No Right Turn thinks the US may take an "idiot response" to this. Well military action against North Korea would be moral if it weren't for the effect of threatening the lives of millions of South Koreans and Japanese.

*

Tony Blair on BBC Breakfast TV this morning described North Korea "as a kind of oppression akin to slavery" and he is right. Unlike the BBC which constantly repeats the mantra "we don't really know what it is like there".

*

So we have more tension, and probable sanctions against North Korea on arms and trade. How can this end? Well:

*

- North Korea announces it is abandoning nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and reducing its military presence by 35% (to the same level as South Korea and US in Korea);

- North Korea announces it is embarking on economic reform to allow private investment and ownership, and "socialism with Korean characteristics";

- North Korea announces it is allowing liberalisation of internal political debate and discussion, and providing amnesty for those in gulags;

- North Korea announces it is seeking normalisation of relations with Japan, South Korea and the USA, in exchange for a formal ending of the Korean War and recognition of the Republic of Korea - this will include a further verifiable reduction in military capability;

- Kim Jong Il and family disappear and spend rest of their days in a compound in China in exchange for a transition of power to a fully elected Supreme People's Assembly.

*

OR:

*

- Kim Jong Il can be assassinated and succeeded by military generals who announce their intention to embark on a radical reform agenda ala China. You hope.

*

Since the US has been useless at political assassinations in recent history, I don't hold out hope for the latter.

*

UPDATE 1: The Maori Party's latent Marxism comes to fore again - lamblasting the USA for having a nuclear arsenal - as if it is the same as North Korea. The Maori Party gets its "intelligence" from Greenpeace:

*

“If we are to believe Greenpeace - and we have no reason not to - there are over five thousand nuclear weapons in the States alone” said Mr Flavell.

*

So does Russia Mr Flavell, but hey never mind, anti-Americanism is "cool" eh bro? I guess the USA should disarm now while North Korea, China and Russia have weapons, along with India and Pakistan, and while Iran is pursuing them.

*

Mr Flavell conveniently ignores the slave state conditions of North Korea, maybe because his party secretly admires something about it?

*

UPDATE 2 - Keith Locke gets his oar in too, can't resist beating up China and the USA because they haven't made moves to disarm. Is it any bloody wonder? The fact is the world nuclear weapon arsenal has dropped by about two-thirds since the end of the Cold War - because the Soviet Union and its evil empire collapsed. Something Keith Locke might, for once, celebrate as a major contribution to reducing global tensions.

*

As long as the means to develop nuclear weapons remains in the world and there remain states interested in aggression against their citizens and neighbours, nuclear weapons should remain. Peace comes from strength - those keen on wiping out the USA wont give up just because the USA has lost a means to deter them from wiping it out!

Telecom to cease funding politics

Well for Telecom shareholders this will be welcome. No more money being wasted on organisations that, with the exception of ACT, are uninterested or downright hostile when it comes to Telecom's property rights.

*

Presumably it will hit the Progressives the most, as the smallest party - but Labour will smart from losing $50,000. Telecom says it has nothing to do with government regulation, which may be true, but it should have everything to do with protecting the rights of shareholders. Telecom is hated by most parties in Parliament - National at best engages in economic analysis before considering regulation, ACT tends to oppose it. Of course Libertarianz is the most Telecom friendly political party - in that it supports an open free-market governed by private property, contract and tort law.

Ignore Toll's blackmail

Just a quick comment on the hysteria about Toll saying it will close lots of railway lines. Some very straightforward facts:
*
1. Toll can’t close railway lines. They are owned by the government, which bought them back for $1 under the agreement that it would spend $200 million to upgrade it (and paid $81 million for the Auckland network separately). So it is up to Ontrack.
2. If Toll withdraws services, then its agreement with the government means that other operators can provide services. Presumably they will have to acquire rolling stock, but then Toll will have a lot of rolling stock that is of low value on the international secondhand market (wrong gauge, small dimensions).
3. If Toll moves more freight onto the roads then the government will NOT be up for a higher road maintenance bill that comes out of your pocket. Trucks pay road user charges, which broadly pay enough to cover the cost of maintaining the state highway network, and the marginal cost of each additional truck. The extra wear and tear on the roads will be paid for.
4. If the Napier-Gisborne line saw no more freight trains, there would be, on average, an extra truck every hour in each direction on that highway at the most. I think nobody would notice that, and yes the road user charges paid for that truck would cover the cost of maintenance.
5. The Greens claim there is an imbalance between trucks and trains and what they are charged according to the Surface Transport Costs and Charges study. The marginal cost case studies in that report indicate that road freight has lower environmental costs than rail in two out of the three examples measured. It also indicates than in two examples the Road User Charges paid are more than the costs the trucks impose on government. In other words, it is far more complicated that the Greens will say.
6. The trucking industry is not interested in the main trunk line closing, and has said so. It rightfully has argued that if Toll doesn’t want to use it, others should, assuming they are willing to pay
*
Lincoln University Professor Chris Kissling wants you to be forced to pay for rail maintenance and presumably a tidy sum to buy the monopoly rights off of Toll. I’m unsure why he thinks that all New Zealanders and businesses should pay for a handful of businesses to get subsidised rail transport. However as he says the rail network is “incomplete”, he must be somewhat mad – given half the network isn’t economic to maintain now, how can it be “completed” and be efficient? Where should lines go? Kaitaia? Nelson? It wasn't economic in the 1960s when railways had a statutory monopoly!
*
The answer? Sell the rail network. Then whoever values it the most can use it and charge for its use as it sees fit. Then comes the highways.

Labour attacks free speech - again

Having already suggested prohibiting third parties from funding political parties anonymously, Labour is talking about banning legal companies that produce products that save lives, from advertising. This is even though the products cannot be sold without a prescription from a relevant health professional.
*
Labour has support from the Public Health Association, a left wing advocate of state funding and regulation of health care. Apparently the concern is that individuals – clearly too stupid in the eyes of the PHA and the Labour Party to decide what they put into their own bodies – are pressuring doctors to write out prescriptions for medication that may harm them. This ignores the fact that there are also plenty of individuals, who see an advert for medication that may relieve a complaint they have not bothered seeing a doctor about, and then go to the doctor to be checked to see if they are eligible for it.

*

Banoholic Sue Kedgley has been pushing this for ages. "prescription medicines, when taken inappropriately, can cause severe illness and even death" she says. Well so can petrol, rat poision, water and "natural remedies".
*
Gay Keating says “People may end up paying for medicines that they don't need, and that in the worst case scenario, may actually be harmful to them," well Gay, they might buy shoes they don’t need either, that may be harmful to them – or food, or a car. It is called choice for fuck’s sake.
*
Let’s break down the situation simply – there is no force involved, just busybodies who think that consenting adults can’t be trusted to look after themselves. David Farrar says it is an attack on free speech - indeed it is and he takes the line that one should be cautious about restricting it. No Right Turn thinks you need protection from big bad pharmaceutical companies trying to sell you something you might no need - because you're so incompetent. Oops, I mean there are incompetent people, you're not - but hey the state can't make a separate law for you.

*

Nevertheless, let's follow this chain of horror that Nanny State just has to stop:
*
1. Pharmaceutical company spends its own money developing a drug that has a positive effect upon a medical condition in some way.

2. Pharmaceutical company tests drug to the extent that it can then go through the regulatory hoops to allow it to be legally available in New Zealand.

3. Pharmaceutical company starts selling drug through licenced pharmacists who are competent in dispensing drugs on prescription.

4. Pharmaceutical company uses its own money to pay for advertising on TV channels, radio stations, websites, print media etc. to promote the product. The broadcast advertising is regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority.

5. The product is regulated both as medication and in general contract law.

6. A sane adult sees the advertisement and is interested in spending her own money on the drug because it may have positive effects. She wants to ingest it in her body.

7. The sane adult visits her GP and requests the drug. The GP makes an assessment as to whether it is a good idea or not, and either chooses not to write out a prescription (adult then either goes to another GP or gives up) or to write on out.

8. Sane adult go to pharmacy and requests the drug on prescription, receives and pays for it.

9. Pharmacist dispenses the drug and provides advice on how to safely use it.

10. Sane adult uses drug.
*
Who is forced here? What is going on except that failed head prefects want to interfere in stage 4.
*
National has thankfully said it will oppose moves to regulate such advertising even more. Tony Ryall said, in a rush of blood to his head "This is another example of nanny state 'Labour-knows-best"
*
"Consumers have a right to know that these pharmaceuticals are available, and can be accessed. Surely we want a health system where people can make choices and play a role in their own healthcare.”
*
Stone the crows, he’s got something right!