Scrapping the M4 toll will make roads worse

18 January 2009
Sydney Morning Herald
By The Hon Patricia Forsythe, Executive Director, Sydney Business Chamber

 At midnight on February 15 the privately operated M4 motorway will be handed back to the State Government. It has pledged to scrap the $2.75 toll and provide commuters with a toll-free motorway that stretches from Strathfield to the Blue Mountains.

Superficially, this would appear to be good for residents and business operators in Sydney's west.

The NSW Auditor-General has reported that the M4 is near capacity and that an additional 2000 vehicles an hour will use it, 500 of those as a result of the toll being removed and the rest through natural growth.

It may seem that Sydneysiders are the winners and keep the $2.75 toll in their wallets, but the cost of congestion, of wear and tear on their cars and of stress and more time spent away from families will outweigh that saved money.

Two big challenges face us with transport in Sydney: how we manage congestion in peak hour and how we improve our transport links. Scrapping the M4 toll helps us with neither. In fact it makes things worse.

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