Carriers And Road Tunnel

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30562, 3 October 1964, Page 12

Carriers And Road Tunnel

If the Canterbury Road Transport Association is correct in its belief that the present scale of tolls forces carriers to use Evans Pass, the Road Tunnel Authority will certainly have to revise the charges—and for two reasons. The first is that the diversion of traffic deprives the authority of revenue it needs. The second, and probably more important, is that a continued preference for Evans Pass when the port of Lyttelton is fully open to road transport will make maintenance of the hill road difficult and expensive. It is not an easy road to maintain at any time, and much heavier traffic than it now carries would cause serious problems. The cost would fall mainly on Christchurch city and Lyttelton borough ratepayers; but, whoever paid, it would be an uneconomic imposition on the community while the tunnel is there to be used. However, these considerations should not lead the authority to make any hasty change in tolls, certainly not until it has checked costs for journeys by loaded trucks over Evans Pass. Once the authority reduced tolls it would find it hard to raise them again. The analysis of costs cannot be made fairly until road transport has greater access to the port, and the authority would be wise to stick to its original intention not to review tolls until the end of the first year’s operations next May. The fact that some heavy transport does use the tunnel (paying £1196 in August to do so) suggests that a few operators do find it economic to take the shorter, level route. That may be because they have enough work to keep their trucks fully occupied and find the additional half-hour over Evans Pass too expensive. Others not so concerned with saving time may find in present circumstances that the additional running costs do not outweigh the toll charges. Their experience may be different when traffic over Evans Pass builds up, with heavy, slow trucks grinding up the hill bumper to bumper at a time when more business is offering. Their running costs will be heavier and their time will be more valuable. A careful cost survey should then establish the facts on which the authority may act, having due regard to a cardinal principle of transport; that charges should not exceed what the traffic will bear.