Toll roads are funded from the National Land Transport Fund and supplemented by the use of a loan from the Crown to bring forward the building of the road. For example, to advance the Northern Gateway Toll Road project (and pay for the $375.7 million construction costs), the National Land Transport funding of $217.7 million was supplemented by use of a $158 million debt facility from the Crown.
The toll revenue collected is for the repayment of the debt and related interest costs, as well as the operating costs of the tolling systems. It doesn’t fund the ongoing maintenance and operational costs of the road itself. However, future toll roads will be funded for maintenance and operations.
The legal document covering a specific toll road, called an Order In Council, allows for the tolling tariff to be annually adjusted in line with increases in the Consumer Price Index. So far we've increased the tolls about every 3 years instead of annually.
A toll fee is split into 3 separate parts:
Most of the money goes towards debt repayment, with 80 cents going towards operating costs, and a percentage on GST.
For example, from a $2.60 toll:
|
Breakdown |
Northern Gateway |
Tauranga Eastern Link |
Takitimu Drive |
|||
|
Light vehicles, including motorcycles |
Heavy vehicles (3500kg and over) |
Light vehicles, including motorcycles |
Heavy vehicles (3500kg and over) |
Light vehicles, including motorcycles |
Heavy vehicles (3500kg and over) |
|
|
Toll revenue |
$1.46 |
$3.72 |
$1.20 | $4.07 | $1.03 | $3.90 |
|
Toll operating revenue |
$0.80 |
$0.80 |
$0.80 | $0.80 | $0.80 | $0.80 |
|
GST |
$0.34 |
$0.68 |
$0.30 | $0.73 | $0.27 | $0.70 |
|
Toll tariff |
$2.60 |
$5.20 |
$2.30 |
$5.60 |
$2.10 |
$5.40 |
Northern Gateway
|
Financial Year |
Total number of light vehicles |
Total number of heavy vehicles |
Total |
|
2016/17 |
2,950,382 |
420,492 |
3,370,874 |
|
2017/18 |
3,271,597 |
481,900 |
3,753,497 |
|
2018/19 |
3,462,965 |
512,611 |
3,975,576 |
|
2019/20 |
3,258,203 |
454,190 |
3,712,393 |
|
2020/21 |
3,705,236 |
478,154 |
4,183,390 |
|
2021/22 |
3,398,327 |
460,564 |
3,858,891 |
|
2022/23 |
3,615,802 |
503,890 |
4,119,692 |
|
2223/24 |
8,031,569 |
626,619 |
8,658,188 |
Tauranga Eastern Link
|
Financial Year |
Total number of light vehicles |
Total number of heavy vehicles |
Total |
|
2016/17 |
2,950,382 |
420,492 |
3,370,874 |
|
2017/18 |
3,271,597 |
481,900 |
3,753,497 |
|
2018/19 |
3,462,965 |
512,611 |
3,975,576 |
|
2019/20 |
3,258,203 |
454,190 |
3,712,393 |
|
2020/21 |
3,705,236 |
478,154 |
4,183,390 |
|
2021/22 |
3,398,327 |
460,564 |
3,858,891 |
|
2022/23 |
3,615,802 |
503,890 |
4,119,692 |
|
2023/24 |
3,643,527 |
509,288 |
4,152,815 |
Takitimu Drive
|
Financial Year |
Total number of light vehicles |
Total number of heavy vehicles |
Total |
|
2015/16 |
2,054,469 |
456,817 |
2,511,286 |
|
2016/17 |
2,789,914 |
587,769 |
3,377,683 |
|
2017/18 |
3,202,873 |
657,540 |
3,860,413 |
|
2018/19 |
3,660,663 |
704,119 |
4,364,782 |
|
2019/20 |
3,484,751 |
664,004 |
4,148,755 |
|
2020/21 |
4,124,228 |
738,616 |
4,862,844 |
|
2021/22 |
3,843,520 |
765,097 |
4,608,617 |
|
2022/23 |
4,266,007 |
786,729 |
5,052,736 |
|
2023/24 |
4,272,842 |
789,692* |
5,052,736 |
* This heavy vehicle volume includes 230,771 trips that were treated as unable to be tolled, as the free alternative road was closed to heavy vehicles from 8 January 2024 to 15 April 2024.
The revenue shown below is on a cash basis, rather than an accruals basis. This means it may be slightly different from what’s in the annual report.
|
Financial Year |
Toll revenue – including interest earned |
Toll operating revenue |
Total |
|
Debt repayment – principal and interest |
Applied to operating costs |
||
|
2008/09 |
$2,312,000 |
$1,180,000 |
$3,492,000 |
|
2009/10 |
$6,060,000 |
$3,085,000 |
$9,145,000 |
|
2010/11 |
$6,150,000 |
$3,216,000 |
$9,366,000 |
|
2011/12 |
$6,415,000 |
$3,371,000 |
$9,786,000 |
|
2012/13 |
$7,115,000 |
$3,664,000 |
$10,779,000 |
|
2013/14 |
$7,648,000 |
$3,928,000 |
$11,576,000 |
|
2014/15 |
$8,056,000 |
$4,135,000 |
$12,191,000 |
|
2015/16 |
$9,108,000 |
$4,482,000 |
$13,590,000 |
|
2016/17 |
$10,030,000 |
$4,804,000 |
$14,834,000 |
|
2017/18 |
$10,541,000 |
$5,025,000 |
$15,566,000 |
|
2018/19 |
$10,914,000 |
$5,108,000 |
$16,022,000 |
|
2019/20 |
$10,224,000 |
$4,595,000 |
$14,819,000 |
|
2020/21 |
$11,289,000 |
$5,057,000 |
$16,347,000 |
|
2021/22 |
$9,558,000 |
$4,203,000 |
$13,761,000 |
|
2022/23 |
$10,728,000 |
$4,812,000 |
$15,540,000 |
|
2023/24 |
$13,576,000 |
$6,648,000 |
$20,224,000 |
|
Total |
$139,724,000 |
$67,314,000 |
$207,038,000 |
|
Financial Year |
Toll revenue – including interest earned |
Toll operating revenue |
Total |
||
|
Debt repayment – principal and interest |
Applied to operating costs |
||||
|
2015/16 |
$3,507,000 |
$1,743,000 |
$5,250,000 |
||
|
2016/17 |
$4,494,000 |
$2,288,000 |
$6,782,000 |
||
|
2017/18 |
$5,043,000 |
$2,546,000 |
$7,589,000 |
||
|
2018/19 |
$5,463,000 |
$2,693,000 |
$8,156,000 |
||
|
2019/20 |
$5,252,000 |
$2,508,000 |
$7,760,000 |
||
|
2020/21 |
$5,834,000 |
$2,829,000 |
$8,663,000 |
||
|
2021/22 |
$5,417,000 |
$2,602,000 |
$8,019,000 |
||
|
2022/23 |
$5,836,000 |
$2,785,000 |
$8,621,000 |
||
|
2023/24 |
$6,218,000 |
$3,175,000 |
$70,233,000 |
||
|
Total |
$47,065,000 |
$23,168,000 |
$70,233,000 |
||
|
Financial Year |
Toll revenue – including interest earned |
Toll operating revenue |
Total |
||
|
Debt repayment – principal and interest |
Applied to operating costs |
||||
|
2015/16 |
$3,267,000 |
$1,687,000 |
$4,954,000 |
||
|
2016/17 |
$4,394,000 |
$2,317,000 |
$6,711,000 |
||
|
2017/18 |
$4,996,000 |
$2,647,000 |
$7,643,000 |
||
|
2018/19 |
$5,680,000 |
$2,987,000 |
$8,667,000 |
||
|
2019/20 |
$5,651,000 |
$2,842,000 |
$8,493,000 |
||
|
2020/21 |
$6,528,000 |
$3,340,000 |
$9,868,000 |
||
|
2021/22 |
$6,345,000 |
$3,158,000 |
$9,503,000 |
||
|
2022/23 |
$6,732,000 |
$3,541,000 |
$10,272,000 |
||
|
2023/24 |
$6,456,000 |
$3,767,000 |
$10,224,000 |
||
|
Total |
$50,147,000 |
$26,208,000 |
$76,355,000 |
||
Since the opening date, the tolls have been increased 4 times for Northern Gateway, twice for Tauranga Eastern Link and twice for Takitimu Drive.
|
Date |
Northern Gateway |
Tauranga Eastern Link |
Takitimu Drive |
|||
|
Light vehicles (car/motorcycle) |
Heavy vehicles (3500kg and over) |
Light vehicles (car/motorcycle) |
Heavy vehicles (3500kg and over) |
Light vehicle (car/motorcycle) |
Heavy vehicles (3500kg and over) |
|
|
Jan-09 |
$2.00 |
$4.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
Mar-12 |
$2.20 |
$4.40 |
|
|
|
|
|
Aug-15 |
$2.30 |
$4.70 |
$2.00 |
$5.00 |
$1.80 |
$4.80 |
|
Mar-19 |
$2.40 |
$4.80 |
$2.10 |
$5.20 |
$1.90 |
$5.00 |
|
Jul-23 |
$2.60 |
$5.20 |
$2.30 |
$5.60 |
$2.10 |
$5.40 |
|
|
30 Jun 2019 |
30 Jun 2020 |
30 Jun 2021 |
30 Jun 2022 |
|
Northern Gateway |
$217.2 million |
$213.1 million |
$207.8 million |
$204 million |
|
Tauranga Eastern Link |
$107.0 million |
$107.0 million |
$107.0 million |
$107 million |
|
Takitimu Drive |
The amount remaining to be recovered at 30 June 2022 is $52 million. Takitimu Drive was paid for in full, from the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) in 2015. However, the NLTF is for investing in the land transport system to maintain or improve levels of service. This means the $65 million payment, being a financial transaction only, doesn’t provide transport benefits. Our board determined that $65 million, plus its opportunity costs, would be recovered from tolls on the road and made available to the NLTF to provide transport benefits. |
|||
Based on: 1 July tariff increases, traffic volume assumptions, 2% per annum CPI.
| Northern Gateway | Tauranga Eastern Link | Takitimu Drive |
| By 2039 | By 2040 | By 2031 |
Total construction costs were funded from the National Land Transport Fund and supplemented by the use of debt facility from the Crown.
|
|
Construction costs |
NLTF funding |
Debt component |
|
Northern Gateway |
$375.7 million |
$217.7 million |
$158.0 million |
|
Tauranga Eastern Link |
$456.2 million |
$349.2 million |
$107.0 million |
|
Takitimu Drive |
Takitimu Drive toll road was constructed by the Tauranga City Council in 2003 for a cost of $44.7 million. It was purchased by Waka Kotahi in 2015 for $65 million. |
||
