The organisation has responded to a recent Auditor General’s report into the impact of the removal of the toll from the motorway, which IPA says shows the busy corridor will become unworkable if the toll is removed.Executive director Brendan Lyon said any short-term saving to motorists would be outweighed by increased vehicle and time costs, and significant increases in carbon pollution.The IPA is calling for the toll to remain and the money generated to be reinvested back into Sydney’s roads.“It would be much more sensible to continue the toll, using the money to fund the massive new investment that is required to fix ailing public transport and complete Sydney’s road network,” Lyon said. “The money collected could also be invested in finally building the congestion-busting M4 East motorway extension, the most urgent road project in the state.”According to the IPA, congestion is costing New South Wales motorists more than $12 million a day in lost productivity. Lyon said the state needed to investigate how it could encourage more people to use public transport.“That means that we need to continue to price the use of roads and also increase the comfort and reliability of public transport in Sydney,” he said. The Auditor General’s report, which was released yesterday, showed that traffic on the M4 Motorway would increase by 25% if the toll was removed. Lyon said the NSW government should reconsider its decision to remove the M4 toll.
