M5 East - a Motorway in Sydney Which Was Free for The Last 19 Years Is Now Tolled - What Is Your Opinion?

Blue Cat on 07/07/2020 - 15:19

I was surprised when I found my regular "Avoid Tolls" route to work is not the same anymore today, so I decided to take another look.

Turns out, M5 East is now tolled. So far I only lost around $14 to it yesterday and was a bit of a surprise when I checked my e-toll statement.

It would be OK if it was refundable under the M5 Cashback scheme, but now M5 has 2 tolls - M5 SouthWest and M5 East, which are charged separately and only M5 SouthWest is available for cashback.

I thought the whole point of tolls was to compensate the cost of the road (even though our tax money has already been used to pay for it)?

Why would it get tolled? Especially now that people are struggling with money, government decided to charge money for a road that was free for ~2 decades when it is of most importance to travel to work? What is their reasoning?

Automotive

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Comments

  • spriggy on 09/07/2020 - 21:57
    +1

    We need a Royal Commission into Sydney tolls

  • skylinebmwm5 on 10/07/2020 - 02:19

    They just successfully "fixed" the traffic congestion problem in M5, just like how it's "fixed" for M4 ;)

  • love2buy on 10/07/2020 - 08:20
    +1

    I missed the exit onto kgr when they unexpected changed to the new road exit. Ended up paying for the toll plus taking more time to get back on route! Ouch!

  • Will Mcdonald on 10/07/2020 - 10:40
    +1

    Nothing new, tax payers footed the bill for the building of the road, the government sold the road at a loss to the taxpayers to connex and than the government handles debt collection for a private organisation. Corruption at its best

  • jedimaster on 10/07/2020 - 12:52

    Move to Victoria. Considerably less tolls than NSW

    • kerfuffle on 10/07/2020 - 13:01

      But many more COVID-19 cases! ;)

    • lgacb08 on 12/07/2020 - 09:54
      +1

      Not for long, remember transurban, the monopolist in road toll originated and headquartered in Melbourne, and is the main culprit behind toll roads in this country. It's just got an extension to toll the most lucrative roads in Melbourne by building a bogus tunnel without going through the tender process. But karma come back bitching tjem for now but probably they'll find away to pass it on taxpayers

  • Jackkkkkk on 10/07/2020 - 14:38
    +2

    WELCOME TO THE FUTUREEEEE

  • snajper on 10/07/2020 - 19:31
    +2

    All i know that my trip to work and back (not using M5)would be around $40 a day. M2 , M7 Lane cove tunnel)

    Insane and i am not paying…

  • Thaal Sinestro on 11/07/2020 - 07:21
    +1

    Infrastructure is supposed to be free, a public good. State governments are constantly trying to steal from us in order to pay for their bloated, overpaid bureaucracy.

  • Black Brown Blue on 11/07/2020 - 10:20
    +3

    Tasmania and South Australia have no tolls

    • lgacb08 on 12/07/2020 - 09:54
      +2

      Wa too

  • SydBoy on 11/07/2020 - 11:22
    +4

    vote liberal and get screwed (employee) or get millionaire (employer). think before you vote in next election. Buses privatised through out sydney, many asset sold out to private entity and those entity are actually revenue generating not the loss making !

    stamp duty another propaganda of this government, people think it is cheaper to pay property tax then to pay one off stamp duty without realising that tax will go up every year while stamp duty once in life time.

    infrastructure building is good initiative, but this government poor practices resulted into every single project blowing out of budget so guess who is going to pay (tax payer). sad thing is that labor consistently had poor leadership (state and federal) which can't even ask this transport minster to resign over every single project blowing out of budget !

    • whooah1979 on 11/07/2020 - 11:29

      A friend used to spend hours driving a bus around Sydney with only one or two passengers at a time. They got paid, the company got paid and the taxpayers paid for 30 empty seats.

      • SydBoy on 11/07/2020 - 17:03
        +1

        Not sure if you know how privatisation works in buses. On demand/private buses stays empty driver get paid, company who operate it compensated by goverment with profit margin.

        Services that are necessity should be owned and operated by government to make sure everyone benefits, not just rich. This includes public transport, education and health.

    • Blue Cat on 11/07/2020 - 12:15
      +1

      stamp duty another propaganda of this government, people think it is cheaper to pay property tax then to pay one off stamp duty without realising that tax will go up every year while stamp duty once in life time.

      I said the same in the previous comments, got downvoted because "your land that belongs to you is property of Australian government anyway!"

      Some people WANT to get screwed and their wallets emptied, there is no point trying to help them…

    • [Deactivated] on 11/07/2020 - 17:44

      vote liberal and get screwed (employee) or get millionaire (employer). think before you vote in next election

      Yeah, cause labor never introduces new taxes, never tries to sell off public assets, never contracts infrastructure or sells our resources to overseas companies for cents of their real value while giving them huge concessions, etc…. LOL.

      • Kamsi on 11/07/2020 - 20:36

        Yeah, cause labor never introduces new taxes,

        Let not get into politics argument but why we're paying this high tolls during this hard times.

      • ThithLord on 14/07/2020 - 15:17

        Please, please provide real examples of this? LNP have widespread, blatant corruption and the best you can do is wh-w-whattabout LABOOORRR!!

    • sunnyc on 15/07/2020 - 03:39

      No way Jose. You vote for the party and constituents that aligns with your values. Even you said it, Labor has consistently poor leadership in all forms of government.

      Out of two bad options, you don't choose the worst option. A change in government will definitely lead to a recession.

  • phambrian on 11/07/2020 - 16:46

    Pissed and disgusted.

  • montorola on 11/07/2020 - 22:14
    +1

    Lol @ Sydney.

    Where else but Queensland baby ;)

  • purpleturtle on 12/07/2020 - 12:40

    There's a WestConnex ask us anything page: https://westconnexm8.com.au/wcx/event/ask

    The copy/paste response they're giving "WestConnex M8 motorway has duplicated the M5 East corridor, halving travel times and doubling travel speeds for motorists on the M5 East. The toll introduced on the motorway will help achieve these significant improvements in travel time saving and reliability"

    By that logic, any un-tolled roads that exist today, if they're going see any benefit from a new toll road, WestConnex can turn the free roads into toll roads too??

    Its like saying "WestConnex M4 motorway has duplicated the Parramatta Road corridor, halving travel times and doubling travel speeds for motorists on Parramatta Road. The toll introduced on Parramatta Road will help achieve these significant improvements in travel time saving and reliability"

    That's what it sounds like to me.

    • whooah1979 on 12/07/2020 - 12:47
      +1

      The m4 is so much faster than parra rd, but comes with price.

  • sunnyc on 15/07/2020 - 03:52

    It's like bitching about having to pay for the product after using 30-day free trial. With no need to stop and optimized driving conditions, I'll be better off as I use less fuel due to driving at optimal speed, less vehicle wear due to less braking, more enjoyable drive, and most importantly more time.

    You're already paying fuel tax, rego, ctp.

    If it's too much, consider carshare or take public transport. Don't ride a bicycle or drive a moped as you're endangering motorists.

    • purpleturtle on 16/07/2020 - 19:13
      +2

      Nah, its like bitching about a product that's been free for 20 years becoming paid after its become a routine piece of your workflow when there was no indication it would become paid at the beginning of its life. At least when you sign up for a product's 30 day trial period, you already know beforehand when you sign up you'd need to start paying 30 days later.

      With no need to stop and optimized driving conditions, I'll be better off as I use less fuel due to driving at optimal speed, less vehicle wear due to less braking, more enjoyable drive, and most importantly more time.

      I already get all those benefits as I drive on the M5 East during off peak hours when it was a free road. Cooks River to KGR in 7 minutes. So now, to pay for….the exact same thing…?

      Which means yes, for me, its too much for nothing in return - so off to other free roads while they're still free.

      • sunnyc on 16/07/2020 - 20:58
        +1

        You could say the same about M4. M stands for motorway, if most of them are paid, eventually M5 would be paid?

        Look, I'm not a fan of tolls either but it beats being stuck in traffic. The M8 is so smooth, I actually started enjoying driving.

  • Ednem on 09/10/2020 - 00:09
    +1

    A delayed post but, clarifying the current tolls (heading South):
    Marsh St to King Georges Rd is M5 East : Used to be free, now charged $4.85 and not part of cash back
    King Georges Rd to Fairford Rd is West Connex was always charged but included in Cash back now charged at $5.90 and not part of cash back.
    Cash back seems to only apply from Fairford Rd (Bankstown exit) heading South called M5 SouthWest.

    I only go as far as Marsh St to Fairford Rd so I am charged $5.90 + $4.85 each way for what used to cost me about $0.45 in GST.
    Please correct me if I have named the sections incorrectly….it is possible I have the name and toll rates switched around.

    How sly are the liberals to bring in these changes.
    As Labor have been a shambles of late, I always say
    1) even a bad Labor Party is better than any Liberal Party in government.
    2) Labor manage the economy by looking after the people (workers) and hope it trickles up, while Liberals do it by looking after big business and the wealthy and hope it trickles down.

    That rubbish about encouraging off peak travel and social distancing by extending peak times infuriated me.

    • Blue Cat on 09/10/2020 - 05:34

      extending peak times

      Say what now??? For trains?

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