Auckland Council is planning on introducing congestion charges to the city.
Explainer: The government and Auckland Council are planning to introduce congestion charging - paying to drive in parts of the city. How could it work?
It's been talked about for quite some time , but now that legislation has passed to set it up, work is well underway for Auckland to have New Zealand's first congestion charging scheme.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has said he'd like to see congestion charging to come into Auckland's CBD at peak hours "ASAP".
But there's still a lot to do before that happens. Here's what you need to know.
What are congestion charges?
It means that at certain times and places, you will get charged for driving a vehicle into the city. There's many different ways this can work - more on that in a minute.
These charges are not a new concept in many parts of the world - London, Singapore and New York City have introduced forms of it - but it hasn't been seen in New Zealand before.
Last year, Parliament passed the Land Transport Management (Time of Use Charging) Amendment Bill , which allows the introduction of congestion charging here, permitting local authorities to set up schemes by working with NZTA. It's set to come into effect in November.
Time of use charging is basically another way of saying congestion charging, but with a focus on cutting traffic during peak hours and looking at the whole traffic network more than specific roads.
Auckland will be the first place to introduce it, while other cities like Wellington and Tauranga might be next. But it won't happen overnight.
The goal is to reduce congestion in the central city.
So when is Auckland likely to start these charges?
It's still a few years off, Hamish Bunn, strategic transport lead at Auckland Council, told RNZ.
"We are currently working towards a final council decision on a potential scheme in early 2028, followed by ministerial approval shortly after. The scheme may take several more years after this to enter into operation."
When the legislation allowing the framework for congestion charging kicks in this November, Auckland council will propose an area for the scheme, which would trigger the formation of a 'Scheme Board' between NZ Transport Agency and the council, with an independent chairperson, Bunn said.
The Minister of Transport then has to sign off on the scheme.
The Ministry of Transport is currently having a consultation period on regulations around congestion charges - allowing different charges for different vehicle types, and what the enforcement and penalties will be for those who don't pay the fee. The consultation runs until 26 June.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown.
Timothy Welch, a senior lecturer in architecture and planning at the University of Auckland, said there will still be a tremendous amount of work to be done before any plan can launch.
"The biggest problem is that we really haven't prepared ourselves for a congestion charge."
Mayor Brown told the New Zealand Herald in a recent interview he'd like to see it "ASAP".
"I can say without any doubt that if we try to do this in a year, we've probably bungled it," Welch said. "It's not going to have a good effect because we have not invested in the alternatives."
Drivers would pay a fee to enter congestion pricing zones.
Why do we need it, anyway?
Congestion costs money - not just the petrol you put in your tank, but the environmental consequences, the lost hours to commuters sitting in traffic, the delays for freight transport, and much more.
"Congestion in Auckland is a real problem with real life consequences," Bunn said.
A paper prepared for Auckland Council in January 2025 said that congestion is now costing an estimated $2.6 billion a year.
It said modelling reports indicate Aucklanders spend 29 million hours a year sitting in traffic, or an average of 17 hours per person per year.
"A Time of Use Charge will enable people to think of other ways to travel, like public transport, carpooling or driving outside rush hour," Brown has told RNZ .
"The time you spend sitting in traffic is time that you are not working, learning, exercising, spending time with friends or family, and relaxing," the report said.
In a survey of 2300 Auckland members, the Automobile Association (AA) found that 45 percent called congestion during peak periods "a major problem".
Welch said in the big picture, congestion's impact may be even higher.
The $2.6 billion is "a very low number", he said, and doesn't include things like the 'planning time index' - the amount of time added to your journey planning for traffic ahead, vehicle operating costs, increased emissions and increased rate of crashes and other factors.
"If we add all of that, that number is significantly higher, and all of those things can be reduced with a congestion charge."
So, how would time of use charging work?
That's what Auckland Council will debate in the near future. They've been planning ahe…
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