With Sydney holding the title of the world’s most tolled city,Transurban’s Linkt account customers who take 10 or more trips a month during April,May and June will be eligible for a monthly 12 cents per litre fuel discount during that period.
Transurban operates all of Sydney’s toll roads except the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tunnel.Brook Mitchell
Petrol prices averaged $2.06 a litre at service stations in NSW this week,up from about $1.83 in January,the state government’s FuelCheck monitor shows.
NSW Roads Minister John Graham said this week that the interim findings and recommendations from the review into Sydney’s toll roads led by former competition watchdog chairman Allan Fels will be released shortly.
The Fels review last June that showed it was considering a combination of a charging system based on zones,more complex distance-based pricing of motorists,and different charges depending on the time of day.
The most common concern aired during subsequent public consultation was the level and setting of toll prices,including the rate at which they rise.
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Under Transurban’s latest offer,eligible motorists will receive a fuel discount barcode redeemable at Linkt fuel rewards partners Shell,Viva and Coles. This is in addition to Linkt’s existing four cents a litre discount,which can be combined with other offers.
Transurban customer and technology executive Simon Moorfield said the offer was part of an ongoing Linkt rewards program,and its research showed that the cost of fuel was one of the biggest cost-of-living concerns for households.
“We understand that many people are feeling cost-of-living pressures,and this gives our customers who travel frequently an opportunity to drive their dollar even further,” he said.
Transurban chief executive Michelle Jablko has signalled the company,which owns Linkt,will make more incentives to motorists. Linkt has about 6 million customers in Australia,about 800,000 of whom are members of its rewards programs.
Linkt distributes tags to motorists to put in their vehicles to pay tolls.
NSW Greens MP and former investment banker Abigail Boyd said the cost of unpicking the mass privatisation of Sydney’s toll roads by successive governments could be “astronomical”,but the alternative was that Transurban’s profits would continue to be propped up through toll relief schemes for motorists.
“Motorists are paying the price for the financial short-termism of Labor and Liberal governments,” she said.
NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey told a hearing last week that Transurban played a “very,massive role” in the state’s tolling market. The government’s response to the level of competition was not to privatise more toll roads,such as the under-construction or the first stage of the in southern Sydney.
Transurban operates all of Sydney’s existing toll roads except the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tunnel.
Former NSW transport minister Andrew Constance warned several years ago that changes to agreements for motorways operated by Transurban would “trigger very,very significant claims against the taxpayer”.
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