Torque talk

When the Christchurch City Council’s draft of its new proposed transportation plan for the city was made public a few weeks back, it raised a few eyebrows.

The plan outlined new low emission zones, higher parking levies and yet more cycle lanes. Surprise, surprise. However, the aspect of road pricing is additionally baffling.

While the idea of imposing a charge for people travelling through a city centre has merit in places such as London with a population of millions, for the 380,000 people of Christchurch, it does not fit.

There is also a proposal to have all cars fitted with built-in GPS technology which will track motorists and charge them by the distances they drive and the time of day. This is not only rather Orwellian, but appears to be a way for the powers that be to collect additional revenue and price people out of their cars.

All that will come from financially penalising people who bring their own car into town is that many will end up staying away from our reborn CBD. Think of the loss of income for local businesses.

To actively discourage people from using their cars is not something to be forced on ratepayers, otherwise most of us will spit it back out again.