Tauranga's toll revenue rises

Tauranga's toll road finished the financial year $600,000 up on budget, largely due to an increase in car toll rates.

The toll rate for cars to use Route K increased from $1 to $1.50 at the beginning of 2012.

This resulted in a total revenue gathered by the road of $2.6 million rather than the $1.9 million budgeted.

Introduction of the toll increase saw the number of cars using the road drop 20,000 between December 2011 and January 2012, however a similar (although not as severe) drop happened at the same time the year before.

The total number of vehicles using the road last month (138,000 in August) was greater than it was two years ago but lower than the November 2011 peak (165,000).

The higher than budgeted revenue was still not enough to meet the interest charges on the $59 million in loans incurred since the road opened in 2003.