Council rejects option to waive toll during Story Bridge closure

Well that’s pretty shit

Eh. It’s 3 weeks. Suck it up

Edit: they were discussing it on the radio yesterday and the council said the expected cost to Brisbane rate payers if they made tolls free is greater than the total works bill. They also said around 50% of the users of the bridge are not Brisbane rate payers. So Brisbane rates payers would be paying for others to use the toll roads. They also said they chose the current window because it’s the lowest usage part of the year.

So yeah I think we can suck it up for a few weeks to save a shit load of money. Next will be everyone complaining about rates going up. Choose your poison.

Not sure when the best time to do this essential work would be. 

A lot of peoples travel over the bridge is non-essential (no, not yours, yours is essential) so hopefully, for a few weeks, those trips can be avoided, or alternatives proposed. 

Hopefully, although I doubt it, employers are more flexible with WFH arrangements for people caught up in the traffic. 

There will be traffic, but it’s likely that not everyone who used the story bridge for a journey will shift routes increasing overall traffic, instead they may choose a PT alternative, or an alternative destination, or not to travel at all. So hopefully this won’t be as bad as  traffic catastrophizers make it out to be. 

Will be interesting to watch the follow on impacts and see how that can influence other roadwork projects in the future. 

Headlines a little disingenuous, It’s not the council simply waiving a toll.

It’s council not willing to compensate Transurban $5-$10million to cover forgone revenue and induced demand over a 3 week period.

Given we get 50c fares already; I don’t think taxpayers should be subsidising people driving further.

BCC is broke after spending $1.5B on bendy buses and can barely afford the Story Bridge repairs so definitely can’t afford to cover Transurban’s toll loses.

I can accept tolls if there are legitimate alternatives routes. The Gateway should have never been a toll road and is just a tax on Brisbanites who need to cross the river.

Absolutely makes sense and the best time of year to do it. Less cars on the road and alternative routes.

Which toll would be a sensible alternative route for the story bridge? The clem7 or something? I wouldve thought the most obvious alt route wouldve been the riverside expressway. Clem7 really never occurs to me.

They should lower the toll 50%. It’s a no brainer. Traffic will choke riverside expressway.

Sorry cagers. Maybe get out of your cage for once. If you can afford the cage you can afford some tolls.

The council’s refusal to waive tolls during the Story Bridge closure shows BCC is living in la-la land. The Clem7 toll is up to $7.30 for a car now, which is a massive rip-off just to get across the river.
​Sure, there are free alternative routes like the Captain Cook Bridge, but if you live in inner-city pockets right near the bridge like Teneriffe, New Farm, Newstead, or the Valley you are completely screwed. Being forced to detour through the CBD to access the Riverside Expressway will easily add 20 to 30 minutes to your trip. And that’s not even factoring in the absolute gridlock from the thousands of other drivers doing exactly the same thing to avoid paying the toll.
​I had to laugh when Councillor Ryan Murphy claimed on ABC Radio that they won’t waive the tolls because a huge chunk of the traffic is from outside the Brisbane LGA. What research is that based on? Data from 20 years ago? It’s a slap in the face to the locals who actually live here, pay rates, and rely on that crossing daily.

They already had the bike and footpaths closed for a brief maintenance period of <checks notes> 7 months last year without alternative access.

I’m sure those using cars will be happy to apply the same suggested logic of just going a different way.