Type of Scheme
Date of Introduction
Background
- Originally a public sector scheme, the 22 kilometre City Link Toll Road is now a privately-operated, electronic toll road that links major routes between Melbourne Airport, the port and industrial centres in the south-east.
Aims
- Primary objective is to reduce congestion in central administrative district (CAD).
- Secondary objectives are to:
- improve vehicle access to the CAD and many facilities within inner-city Melbourne.
- improve access for freight movements for manufacturing industry and primary producers to the port, rail facilities and the airport.
- make environmental improvements to adjacent areas.
How it Works
Charges:
- Users are required to register with the operator, either by opening an account or by buying a DayPass.
- Those who open an account receive an electronic tag to install on the vehicle's windscreen.
- Toll statements are mailed quarterly and accounts must be topped up when balance falls below a certain level.
- Motorists without an electronic tag using the DayPass are allowed unlimited travel for a single day or weekend, and can pay for it up to 72 hours after first travelling without being regarded as a violator.
Technology:
- City Toll operates a fully electronic, cashless tolling system without toll stations or barriers.
- The system allows motorists to travel the entire route without stopping or slowing to pay tolls.
- Pre-paid electronic tags fixed to windscreen communicate with the overhead gantries.
- Each e-TAG has a unique number stored in its electronic memory. The e-TAG does not contain the vehicle's licence plate number, the driver's name and address or other personal details.
- When a vehicle carrying an e-TAG passes through a toll zone, the e-TAG is detected by a scanner mounted on a gantry above the roadway and the identifying number is recorded. This number is linked to the driver's toll account in the central tolling computer system located in South Melbourne.
- When a driver's e-TAG is recorded passing under a gantry, the tolling computer deducts the toll for that toll zone from the driver's toll account. This process represents a single 'transaction'. Each transaction is similar to a withdrawal from a bank account and is entered into the records of the driver's toll account.
Enforcement:
- It uses automatic vehicle identification technology (similar to London).
- Drivers without e-tags who fail to pay by noon next day have their registration number sent to the traffic camera office with a digital image of the vehicle.
- Offenders are fined a flat fee of $100.
- 99.9% of vehicles are captured electronically.
Revenue
- Currently raises $231m in revenue.
Benefits/Results
- Congestion has been reduced in north and west Melbourne.
- Pollution has been cut.
- Safer conditions have been obtained on local streets.
- In 2001, a Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) study reported:
- Major improvements to journey times across the road network served by the City link Toll Road.
- Reduced journey times were calculated to save a typical commuter (10 peak period trips a week) between 2.8 and 3.25 litres of fuel a week.
- Since opening in 2000 number users has increased rapidly. By June 2003 City Link had over 650,000 customer accounts, plus a million infrequent users without accounts. In total, motorists were using the toll road for more than 700,000 transactions a day.
Public Opinion
- In 2001, a Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) study reported:
- 89% of motorists surveyed said that City Link saved them time and 86 per cent indicated that the toll road made getting around the city easier.
Websites
VicRoads:
www.vicroads.vic.gov.au.
Transurban Group:
www.transurban.com.au.
Contact
mcla@mcla.vic.gov.au.
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