Based on motorists driving on average about 4000 kilometres a year during peak hours, Professor Hensher argues that they would be better off if they were charged 5¢ a km and their registration halved than under the present system of charging for toll roads. He said the pricing model would encourage more people to drive during off-peak periods when there was no charge, and thereby reduce congestion and travel times during rush hours. Sydney's toll roads have become a state election issue. Credit:Louie Douvis "Governments have been cynical about pricing reform because they think it will cost votes. They have never attempted to consider the benefit to users who are also voters," he said. While conceding it is a radical approach, he said research by the university's Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, which he heads, had shown that the "road pricing reform" would cut peak-hour congestion by up to 10 per cent, or to "school holiday levels".

Loading Professor Hensher said people needed to be shown that they would benefit from the changes because "most people come at this from the point of view of 'what is this going to cost me'?" "The public will accept the scheme if it can be demonstrated that they are not financially worse off but they get a time saving," he said. A survey by the university found that 70 per cent of drivers would be willing to travel in off-peak periods if given a financial incentive to do so and save travel time. "We can't build our way out of the problem. We need to come up with a new pricing model," he said.

Loading A spokesman for Roads Minster Melinda Pavey said the Coalition did not support "a new tax on motorists or the detailed tracking of motorists movements on the road network that this proposal would require". Labor's transport spokeswoman, Jodi McKay, said she was against the proposal because it would punish financially those who travelled longer distances such as motorists in western Sydney, and would be difficult to administer. The Grattan Institute's transport director, Marion Terrill, said a new way of charging motorists when they contributed to congestion was needed, but any scheme had to be regarded as fair for it to gain public acceptance. Sydney has more kilometres of toll roads than any other city in the world. Once the $16.8 billion WestConnex is fully completed by 2023, Sydney will have 12 toll roads including the $3 billion NorthConnex tunnel in the north. A year later, the first stage of the F6 Extension in the south is due to open at a cost of up to $2.6 billion.