Cycling in Sydney Australia
The old "you don't pay rego" argument
G'day g'day,
Back from holidays and loving being back on two wheels....the fumes in my lungs, road grit up my legs, bugs in my mouth, blinkered cab drivers, distracted pedestrians, abuse hurled at me from all directions.....love it!!
Whilst away I had the usual arguments you have with everyone who doesn't cycle, and the same old points got brought up again. Got me thinking about the rego thing though. I'm sure this must have been discussed numerous times before so feel free to point me in the direction of those threads if so.
They say we don't pay rego. I do. I pay rego on a car that is sitting in the garage whilst I'm on my bike. Sitting in the garage, not putting any wear on the infrastructure of my city, therefore not costing taxpayers in road maintenance. Not putting any fumes into the air, therefore not costing taxpayers in government health care. Surely that counts for something.
But what about people who don't have a car? Or then again, what about the people who have two cars?
So then I'm wondering, what EXACTLY does rego pay for? Is there a definitive resource that tells us this?
I know I'd be happy to pay a fee, if it meant I was guaranteed a lane all the way to work. Until then...
Back from holidays and loving being back on two wheels....the fumes in my lungs, road grit up my legs, bugs in my mouth, blinkered cab drivers, distracted pedestrians, abuse hurled at me from all directions.....love it!!
Whilst away I had the usual arguments you have with everyone who doesn't cycle, and the same old points got brought up again. Got me thinking about the rego thing though. I'm sure this must have been discussed numerous times before so feel free to point me in the direction of those threads if so.
They say we don't pay rego. I do. I pay rego on a car that is sitting in the garage whilst I'm on my bike. Sitting in the garage, not putting any wear on the infrastructure of my city, therefore not costing taxpayers in road maintenance. Not putting any fumes into the air, therefore not costing taxpayers in government health care. Surely that counts for something.
But what about people who don't have a car? Or then again, what about the people who have two cars?
So then I'm wondering, what EXACTLY does rego pay for? Is there a definitive resource that tells us this?
I know I'd be happy to pay a fee, if it meant I was guaranteed a lane all the way to work. Until then...
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael O' on -
If cyclists paid rego, those same people would say we're not paying ENOUGH rego.
They are haters and don't want to be happy.
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Permalink Reply by Doddsy on -
We already pay to use our roads.
On average 15 billion dollars worth of taxpayers money a year goes towards paying for the strain that motorists put on our health care system and the cost of maintaining our roads.
Registration is a form of insurance isn't it?
Registration is in place to make motor vehicles pay for the strain they put on our health care system and damages they cause to public property.
Cycling does not even cost a fraction the amount that driving does.
Making people pay to ride bikes would stop people from riding (especially in regards to people considering riding a bike) and that would be bad for cycling.
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Permalink Reply by paragon on -
thanks for the data , #07 ; shame we had to lock horns ;we could join forces - up to you , fella. humility mine ; love your attitude. #21
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Permalink Reply by Doddsy on
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You attacked Paragon not me.
im normally just the guy that tells others to be nice to you.
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Permalink Reply by maree on -
Hi Kylie,
I'm one of those road users who doesn't pay rego (no car, bike only). A friend of mine mentioned to me that rego doesn't actually pay for road maintenance to any great amount... that its all tax money really that builds and maintains roads.
I'm from Melbourne so I just looked up VicRoads to find out how rego money is split up. Doing a query for the price of rego for a light motor vehicle housed in inner Melbourne, the cost of car registration is split up as follows:
Registration: $178.00
Transport Accident Charge: $378.00
Insurance Duty: $37.80
Total: $593.80
So most of car rego money goes to compulsory third party insurance / accident cover. "Registration fee" would include admin costs for processing and sending out the sticker / renewal notices.
If they want to talk about "you don't pay so why should you get to use" they'll actually have to start talking about people who don't pay tax. Clearly roads are seen as a common asset, and payed for from common money.
It'd be good to see a "Transport Pollution charge" if they want to talk about people paying fairly, say, for the damage done. Put that money into public health.
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Permalink Reply by Andrew on -
Originally I believe it was a form of weight tax, but these days it is basically for record keeping - also there was a WA study a few years ago that pointed out that if rego was to pay for roads, it should be approx $6500 per year
Also the NSW table - based on weight
Cars, station wagons and trucks up to 975kg $223 $329
976kg to 1154 kg $245 $363
1155kg to 1504kg $275 $415
1505kg to 2504kg $393 $599
Trailers (including caravans) up to 254kg $52 $135
255kg to 764kg $146 $204
765kg to 975kg $223 $329
976kg to 1154kg $245 $363
1155kg to 1504kg $276 $415
1505kg to 2499kg $393 $599
Motor cycle $103 $103
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Permalink Reply by Michael O' on
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It is still graded according to weight I believe. That's why you pay more for a larger heavier car than a compact. And trucks pay heaps more.
So the question is, if you pay around $500 for a car that weighs, I dunno, a tonne, how much would you pay for a bicycle weighing 8-15 kilograms?
Not enough to cover the costs of collecting the fee.
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Permalink Reply by Paul on -
I believe that the figures above are a combined figure that includes the actual Registration and the Motor Vehicle Tax.
From memory, I think that last year it cost $268 to register the car, of which only $40-$50 was the actual Registration Fee, the rest was Weight Based Motor Vehicle Tax.
There is also this little comment on the RTA Site: "Registration fees are a combination of an administration fee and a tax. Most registrations include a component of Motor Vehicle Tax. Revenue from this tax helps fund road construction and maintenance"
So, while the Tax supposedly "helps fund road construction and maintenance", I think you'll find it just goes into general revenue, where road funding is subsequently allocated from.
Personally, I don't think having Cyclists pay rego will achieve anything. Imagine your 5 year old needing to have a registered Bicycle. Total madness, and with over a million bicycles sold per year it would be an administrative nightmare!
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Permalink Reply by paragon on
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conservative estimate , Andrew. owned several old station wagons rated 1849kg. not aware of anything other that a fiat bambin0 as light as 975 kg !!!! (with the exception of several large motorcycles)you're eitther misinformed or part of the problem. (jokes) just check your stat's b4 you publish them.
point is though , kids ; we don't damage the roads and drive better than cabbies when we do.
no shit! - rego doesn't pay for road construction&maintenance-known that for decades;nonetheless thanks to everyone for providing statistics on this.
pay tax ? pay for roads more than motorists ( in that u don't contribute 2 the maintenance bill) whilst subsidising them; fun isn't it?!?)
beyond that , i can't dispute your price list without researching it.
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Permalink Reply by Bennelong Bicyclist on -
Have a look at the NSW Tearury Budget Papers (google for them). If you are lucky, they may mention how much revenue is derived from motor vehicle registrations. They will definitely mention how much is spent on roads and related infrastructure, both under maintenence and new capital works. However, from past experience you'll probably need to download several different secions of the papers and do some sleuthing and cross-referencing. Note also that in general the government doesn't work by "hypothecating" particular revenue to particular expenditure - revenue goes into a big pot and money is spent from that pot - thus expenditure on roads etc is not tied to income from registrations. However, it should be possible to estimate what proportion of expenditure on roads etc is represented by revenue from motor vehicle registration. According to teh ABS 2006 Census of Motor Vehicles, there were 4.3 million registered motor vehicles in NSW in 2006 - so about 4.6 million today, roughly. Multiple that by the average revenue for each vehicle registration (excluding CTP and other costs) - that will give you a rough idea.
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