Tauranga City Council transportation development engineer Helmut Marko says Route K toll revenue spiked in November – breaking records.
'Something very similar happened last year, there was a big jump, even bigger than this year – the same for December as well,” says Helmut.
The Route K toll plaza.
Reasons for the increase are unclear.
'It could be that some people are taking advantage before the tolls go up on the first of January, but I think it's only a small number that would be doing that.”
Another booster for November was the fact the month had only four Saturdays and four Sundays, which Helmut says are normally lower volume days.
'Also there probably weren't any road works or accidents which stop traffic onto Route K.
'It's very similar to last year and the previous year. We have seasonal fluctuations when the figures go up and down – in winter they drop back a bit.”
The Pyes Pa Bypass, which opened in June, has added about 200 extra cars to Route K's daily traffic volume.
Route K November Traffic Stats
| Average daily traffic: | 5549 vehicles (record high) |
| Increase compared to November 2010: | 707 vehicles per day |
| Heavy trucks daily average: | 836 heavy trucks (record high) |
| Light trucks daily average: | 43 light trucks |
| Total paid car users: | 138,870 cars (record high) |
| Total revenue: | $241,785 (record high) |
5 comments
Posted on 22-12-2011 11:51 | By friendee
i will be interested to see these stats next year. people i have spoken to are not going to continue to use this road at $1.50, mainly because a dollar is easy , its just revenue grabbing
Expensive 200 cars ...
Posted on 22-12-2011 13:26 | By Murray.Guy
The Pyes Pa Bypass, which opened in June, has added about 200 extra cars to Route K's daily traffic volume which come with a price tag of $45 plus million and interest (in part) compounding!
MURRAY ADDING UP THE NUMBERS
Posted on 22-12-2011 18:23 | By YOGI
Well Murray that is just not going to work then is it. $200 a day from 200 cars (soon to be $300 a day) is about $73,000 for a whole year, somehow I get the feeling that the Pyes Pa Bypass will not be helping a great deal with the toll collections for a while.
MASSA KISSED
Posted on 23-12-2011 15:01 | By MASSA KISSED
The ratepayers certainly are, I think that it is fair to say that the result is a little adrfit of the budget and that gap just got bigger fast.
AGREED ON 'ADRIFT' HERE
Posted on 27-12-2011 19:05 | By PREDATOR
They add the $13m odd debt for Pyes Pa Bypass and then hope that the 50% increase in car tolls only will solve all the problems. It will likely take 18 months for some official to figure that the loss got bigger not smaller as a result of these two decisions.
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