Clayton Mitchell New Zealand First MP

Tauranga Eastern Link users are being charged a premium to use the road when they pay by cash or debit card.

If a TEL user does not have access to a computer or the internet, they must pay $3.20 at a selected service station, like BP or Caltex.

Those able to pay online pay $2 for the same toll. TEL users without access to the internet, like many of our mature or less privileged residents, are paying extra in fees, time, effort and energy.

Why is this Government disenfranchising people without the use or access to a computer or the internet?

Alternate payment methods available or the increase in cost to pay by cash is also not clearly stated anywhere along the TEL.

The stated fee is $2, but when you go into BP or Caltex the fee is actually $3.20. You can find this information easily enough online, but without a computer or the internet, the task of paying a toll becomes an incredibly arduous one.

I know because we have had a lot of people coming into our office in the last few weeks sharing their frustrations with this incredibly complicated system for a toll we shouldn't have to begin with.

As a result, I queried the Minister of Transportation on two points a couple of weeks ago. The first question was regarding the adequacy of signs on the TEL providing users with the necessary information, the location of and wording on these signs.

The second was regarding how many people were using the selected service facilities versus the online payment system.

Simon Bridges hasn't answered the question with regards to signs; and his response with regards to the $50,000 per annum collected via both cash and debit card payments begs the question, should people without easy access to computers or the internet be required to pay a premium? The Government should make it a $2 flat fee for all users.