This page relates to the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme.
This is the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) policy on tolling for state highways.
Date of issue: March 2020 | Last updated August 2023 | NZTA may review and amend investment policies at any time, including in response to any changes in the Government Policy Statement on land transport.
This policy provides a framework for NZTA to decide when tolling is feasible and appropriate for state highways, as provided for under section 46 of the Land Transport Management Act 2003 as a mechanism for funding road infrastructure projects.
Public private partnership (PPP) is a long-term contract for the delivery of a service, where provision of the service requires the construction of a new asset, or enhancement of an existing asset, that is financed from external (private) sources while full legal ownership of the asset is retained by the Crown.
Tolling is a method of raising revenue from transport infrastructure which involves a charge or fee imposed on the user in return for the benefits received from using that infrastructure.
Tolling is a revenue collection mechanism NZTA may establish under the Land Transport Management Act 2003 which enables users of a road to contribute to its cost over time.
Land Transport Management Act 2003(external link)
Under section 46, revenue from tolling may be used to contribute towards the ‘planning, design, supervision, construction, maintenance, or operation of a new road’.
NZTA assesses all new state highways and significant upgrades to existing state highways for tolling suitability.
NZTA may assess all state highways and significant upgrades for tolling at 2 separate stages and for different purposes:
Tolling assessments pass through a 3-gate process, designed to apply a series of lenses to the complex issue of determining tolling feasibility, and provide the information required for robust decision making. This 3-gate process aims to weight the potential toll road against the requirements of the Land Transport Management Act and investment principles, while ensuring that the NZTA Board, the Minister of Transport and the public are involved appropriately.
The criteria for each stage of this assessment are as follows.
Gate one includes:
Gate 2 includes:
Gate 3 includes:
The public must be adequately consulted on all proposed tolling schemes. Consultation happens after the assessment outcome has indicated tolling is feasible and the Minister of Transport has agreed, upon the recommendation of the NZTA Board, to progress to scheme development.
To be adequate, public consultation must be open for an appropriate period of time (with a minimum of 4 weeks) and should involve a combination of online and hard copy consultation forms.
All submissions and feedback collected via the public consultation will be used to inform the final recommendation to the Minister of Transport on whether to progress the toll road.
The NZTA Board holds the authority for recommending a toll road to the Minister of Transport. This recommendation will occur:
The Minister of Transport holds legislative power to recommend a road for tolling to the Governor-General, provided the Minister is confident the requirements of the Land Transport Management Act have been met.
Although not a legislative requirement, it is considered best practice to ask the Minister of Transport’s permission to publicly consult on the proposed toll road.
While the Minister of Transport holds the legislative power to recommend the making of an Order in Council to the Governor-General, the Minister is likely to consult Cabinet before making a final decision.
The Governor-General holds the legislative power to approve and sign the Order in Council, thereby establishing a toll road.
Because the Minister of Transport must approve the recommendation for the establishment of a toll road, the process can be time intensive. These timings are constrained by the requirement for the Order in Council (that is, the lawful ability to toll) to be in force no later than the day the road is opened.
NZTA will endeavour to begin all assessments of new roads and significant upgrades to existing roads under the 3-gate process no less than 3 years before to the opening date of the road, and, wherever possible, in conjunction with the road design process.
The Land Transport Management Act does not provide for establishing a toll for the purpose of travel demand or congestion management. Although as part of the assessment and development of a tolling scheme, the impacts of tolling on the wider transport network must be considered, this consideration will occur within the context of potential benefits or dis-benefits that relate specifically to the financial viability and effectiveness of the project as outlined in ‘Assessing whether tolling is suitable for a new or upgraded state highway’ above.
NZTA will, unless there is a justifiable reason, proactively release the results of tolling assessments and its recommendations once the decision whether to toll has been publicly released.
Any proactive release of information may be subject to redactions, where appropriate, under the Official Information Act 1982.
In the course of delivering tolling, NZTA must consider and be aware of its obligations under the following legislation:
