When Tunnel Trend engulfed the Brisbane and Ipswich population with the promise of easing congestion and in key areas I was keen to use the facilities whenever I crossed the into the big smoke as it did save time and pricing compared with fuel usage in gridlock was balanced and at times cheaper.Now days the maths to use the tunnels does not add up. It costs the motorist about 3-4 litres of fuel pending on prices to use the facility one way which averages about 30-40 kilometres for the modern car so it’s no wonder the tunnels are under utilised by the average driver.
Maybe it’s their business plan to attract heavier Class 3 trucks but my experience tells me that they too are back to the conventional routes across the river.
In Class 2 normal cars and Utes the $10 plus fee return buys a lot of fuel and will do nothing to ease congestion, the reason for the tunnels initially, and I appreciate costs have to be recovered but we are not Europe, nor lazy, and while prices outweigh practically it will be long time before any yield on investment. Meanwhile the taxpayers are funding the old existing road network that is carrying the weight of privateers mismanagement again.
The Lateral Hazard 