• AJ Sadauskas@aus.socialOP
    0·
    8 months ago

    @alcoholicorn It is when it has been privatised to a company that pretty much pays no tax (hi Transurban!), for roads that taxpayers helped to pay for, and those toll roads connect car dependent suburbs that have next to no public transport.

    • Tower@lemm.ee
      0·
      8 months ago

      Also when we’re told the tolls are to pay for the road, but after the road is paid off, the toll stays…

      • hayes_@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        7 months ago

        Not disagreeing with your core point but infrastructure is never paid off.

        Upkeep on a mile of asphalt is way more than I expected and I live somewhere temperate.

    • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
      0·
      8 months ago

      Oh yeah, when it’s privatized. Here the only former toll road was owned by the county. They removed the toll once the road paid for its construction.

      • AJ Sadauskas@aus.socialOP
        0·
        8 months ago

        @alcoholicorn Yeah, that’s not how it tends to work in Australia.

        What happens is a state government puts up a good chunk of time construction costs (as much as half in some cases), plus public land.

        In some cases, the freeway already exists, but the state government wants one more lane built, because it thinks that will ease congestion (as happened with sections of the Tullamarine and Monash Freeways in Melbourne).

        It gets handed off to Transurban, who builds it under a long-term operating agreement (30 years is common).

        In some cases, the agreements have clauses saying railways that compete with the toll road can’t be built.

        As the end of the lease approaches, Transurban offers to build one more lane — in exchange for extending the agreement.

    • xantoxis@lemmy.world
      0·
      8 months ago

      You’re right, the toll roads should be collected by the government, and the amount collected should be based on income so it’s not regressive.

      Also, they should be placed every 15 feet, so people stop driving altogether.