Almost 1000 motorists are paying annual toll bills of $10,000 or more, according to data that further highlights the cost-of-living crunch of using the Sydney motorway network and the Western Sydney postcodes where drivers pay the most.
The NSW Government is pushing ahead on reforms to the tolling system, with the objective of creating a fairer, simpler system that lowers tolls for the majority of journeys and no longer penalises western Sydney motorists who travel further and lack public transport alternatives.
The state’s steepest toll bills are revealed in the first ever release of individual e-toll data that shows dozens of account holders who pay more than $30,000 a year.
There are 901 motorists whose annual spend is between $10,000 and $20,000.
From Bankstown to Blacktown, Marsden Park to Moorebank, the top 1000 toll payers are overwhelmingly based in western Sydney.
The data is taken from the NSW Government-owned E-Toll provider that has 1.4 million customers. It filtered out accounts linked to businesses or private account holders with more than three e-tags linked to their account.
The number of motorists paying $10,000-plus toll bills is likely much higher as the data does not include toll spend from the privately-owned provider Linkt.
According to the toll spend between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024, the most used toll road for 43 per cent of motorists was WestConnex, followed by the M7 (16 per cent), M5 (12 per cent), Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tunnel (12 per cent) and the M2 (8 per cent).
Overall, motorists are paying $2.5 billion a year in tolls, with the Minns Labor Government’s $60 toll cap now critical in providing relief to hundreds of thousands of motorists.
The independent Toll Review led by Allan Fels and David Cousins has confirmed projections that the poorly-functioning patchwork of numerous different price structures will cost motorists $195 billion in nominal terms in tolls over the next three and a half decades on top of the billions they have already paid to build the roads.
Roads Minister John Graham said:
“This is the data the former Liberal government would never have shared with the public. The toll bills at the upper end of the scale are eye-watering in their magnitude and only reinforce the pressing need for toll reform in Sydney.
“We have nearly 1000 motorists whose annual spend on tolls is in excess of $10,000 which is a significant impost no matter who you are – but the fact is that the drivers paying these sky-high bills are in our western suburbs or central coast where people can least afford it.
“Toll reform is critical for Sydney and this is a once in a generation chance to address it while we continue to offer vital toll relief through the $60 toll cap.
“Sydney is a place in which people make choices about where they work and how they get around based on the need to avoid paying tolls. The problem grows each year. Over decades, it will become unsustainable and we must act now to create a fairer system.
