Queenstown congestion charge discussed by Mayor Glyn Lewers

Phil Pennington, Reporter
phil.pennington@rnz.co.nz

Queenstown's mayor has been talking to the government about the option of a congestion charge on tourists driving around town.

The tight-packed tourist town has opened a new arterial route in, but is struggling to find funds to extend it.

Mayor Glyn Lewers has had meetings with the Finance and Infrastructure ministers - the latter, Chris Bishop, is also now the new Transport Minister - and says all options are on the table, including congestion charges, though Lewers stressed it would not apply to locals.

"Technology's moved on - you can start looking at how you can do user charging and differentiate between the tourist versus the local," he told RNZ.

"There's all sorts of different ways ... and I think that's an open discussion that this government's pretty keen to have.

"We've already had discussions."

The new arterial opened on Thursday was only about 1km long.

At a cost of at least $128m, it was one of the country's most expensive stretches of road.

The Crown put up $50m of that sum, but locals would be paying off the rest for decades.

Even so, the road stopped shy of the main shopping street, and there was no funding to extend the arterial - just a little money for design and buying land after 2029.

 

 

"We'll continue to lobby for funding to complete the full route," Lewers said.

Speeding up the arterial's extension depended on the outcome of the talks with government.

These had covered options such as congestion or other user charges, diverting part of any new tourist levy, or central government stepping up more.

"Whether we bring the construction forward or not is completely up to how those options develop, and if they develop," he said.

Nationally, congestion charging depended on legislation changes and new technology being developed by NZTA.

Of the main cities, Auckland was closest to adopting such a charge, where motorists were charged a few dollars per trip on some streets at certain times.

Lewers told RNZ that even the stage that opened on Thursday was enough to unlock business potential, by freeing up the old route in, Stanley Street, for more public transport.

But "full town centre transformation" depended on the two further unfunded phases, he added.

A full arterial including a bypass one block over from the main street had been talked about for 20 years.

Construction of the first phase took several years - it had "taken longer and cost more than we expected", Lewers said.

"But we know this investment is an important one for our future."

Bishop has been approached for comment.

Queenstown is a tourism bastion but was struggling with inadequate roads and water services.

The government has put road building and tourism among things at the centre of its 2025 plan for growth.

"Tourism has a massive role to play in our growth story - and I want the government to work with the sector to make that happen.," Christopher Luxon said in his State of the Nation speech.

Nicola Willis has listed ways the government will make it easier for tourists to come in.

Lewers has said if tourist numbers went up, "I would expect a very serious investment in actually accommodating those visitors."

Two councillors - one district, one regional - have called for constraints on housing and business development while infrastructure problems are addressed.

Willis had promised to work with communities, and Lewers said she really understood the issues.