Toll Road Fees...are you being slugged

JayDee · Guru

Toll Road Fees...are you being slugged

dogbox · Guru

to buy Transurban would cost around 40 billion dollars

JayDee · Guru

Yes, I checked the share market (ASX) and their shares are trading around $12 plus with a yearly dividend of 60 cents but no franking credits.

Jay&Dee

Meredith · Senior Member

JayDee wrote:
One has to wonder why the Governments of Australia do not own the Transurban Toll Company. Here is why we should.

Because if they owned it they would have to put up the money to build the roads in the first place rather than Transurban paying for them. Basically its a loan and those doing the repaying are the toll payers. May not like paying tolls, but the money would have to come from taxpayers otherwise anyway, via either increased taxes or cutting other services.

dogbox · Guru

I was under the impression that the government built the roads then leased them to Transurban, I could be misinformed.

Corndoggy · Senior Member

I think the roads are built by those contracted by the appropriate governments but they are funded by those companies. Then those roads are least to these companies to operate, run and maintain them and part of the agreement is to collect toll charges to recover their money, and then some. I believe that when they did the road from the Tullamarine freeway out to the other side of the city here in Melbourne they were given a 30 year lease. I under 10 years they had made their money back. Then they did an upgrade on it and that lease was extended by15 years. Least think that is how it worked here. I could be wrong. Be interesting to see the true figures released to the public of the money they collect now.

Meredith · Senior Member

dogbox wrote:
I was under the impression that the government built the roads then leased them to Transurban, I could be misinformed.

Not in Melbourne, nor I understand in Brisbane, I expect it is the same in NSW but haven't ever looked closely at theirs.

Derek Barnes · Senior Member

I wonder why we still have to pay the full toll on roads such as the M7 in Sydney when it has constant construction going on and is limited to 80 the whole way, instead of 100.

Peter_n_Margaret · Senior Member

Toll roads equals a failure of government to provide the appropriate infrastructure for the population.
A couple of years ago, we spent a couple of months in Norway, They have more tunnels and bridges than you could comprehend. They charge a small toll until each is paid for and then they are free. After we left the country they sent a bill for tolls to the registered address of the vehicle in Germany. The bill for MANY tolls was about $25. There was no extra because we had not pre-paid.
This is one I saved on the dash cam.
youtu.be/FmWi9S6CMW4

Cheers,
Peter

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Spot on Pete . We are not our gov priority! Both of them ! Why what has happened in US ! People are tired of the rhetoric! Cost of living etc

Peter_n_Margaret · Senior Member

They are currently constructing a major N-S freeway in Adelaide. The final stage will mostly be underground. Land acquisition is complete and construction has started.
There are no road tolls in South Australia and there will be none for this road.
Any Government is SA who introduced a toll would be out at the next election.
Cheers,
Peter