The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > General Discussion > Sydney Harbour Bridge- Who gets the $?

Sydney Harbour Bridge- Who gets the $?

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. All
It costs about 5-6 million dollars per annum to keep the bridge in good condition. So who or what gets the rest of the minimum $152,000,000 raised in tolls?
I am serious, who gets it?
Sydney Harbour Bridge belongs to the people of New south Wales so why are we paying so much to use it?
Posted by Goddess, Friday, 20 July 2007 1:43:35 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
The Bridge is owned by the RTA.

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/index.cgi?action=heritage.show&id=4301067

So you can forget any ideas about "belonging to the people". It is there to gather revenue for the Government, and that's all there is to it.

If you recall, the price went up dramatically so that the tunnel could charge the same amount - which even at this price it is not covering its cost...

"funding of the Sydney Harbour Tunnel is based on bond finance the repayment and servicing of which is clearly and ultimately dependent on the State. Had the Tunnel financing been undertaken from at-risk private sector funding, it is likely that the Tunnel would not have been built because its revenues are insufficient to service costs and capital. In any event, complex arrangements would have been required to ensure that the operation of the adjacent publicly-owned Sydney Harbour Bridge and a privately-owned Sydney Harbour Tunnel was optimal."

http://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/publications/speeches/ag_speech/1998/uc6398.htm

It's not a Bridge, or a national treasure. It's a road.

And I wonder if your revenue figures include the amount they charge State Rail? Hmmmmm.

Thanks for an interesting question, which - as often happens with interesting questions - generates few useful answers but a swag of new questions...
Posted by Pericles, Friday, 20 July 2007 4:17:31 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
No fan of my former employer the NSW RTA , well not quite true just very very disappointed .
But the money builds roads all over NSW that task is massive.
If we can get our head around the population of all Australia, then understand the total amount of tax Australians pay.
Consider the dollars spent in just New York city USA on roads, we will find we are lucky to have the roads we have, the amounts are staggering.
If we are continually going to talk about better roads in other country's we must understand the costs to get those roads now are impossible.
We would need to pay $20 tax on every liter of fuel.
Disappointed? yes one color paint ,white wash, the safe haven for every shonky low paying anti union contractor in NSW.
Often judged only by the kick backs to foremen.
Yes I remain disappointed that the RTA even lets contractors who steal from employees leave trucks in safe storage in RTA depos.
Posted by Belly, Sunday, 22 July 2007 7:42:46 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy