Harbour bridge tolls to go both ways from 2028   

Dec 11, 2025
New Daily



Drivers will be tolled in both directions on the Sydney Harbour Bridge from late 2028, the NSW government says.

Under the decision announced on Thursday, which defies the state Labor government’s pre-election promise of “no new tolls”, drivers will be hit with a toll to use the bridge and the harbour tunnel.


The Minns government said more road charges were needed to fund critical relief for Sydney’s road commuters.

A $60 weekly toll “cap” introduced in 2024, designed to minimise the burden on western Sydney drivers, had been set to end within weeks. Under the latest changes, it will become permanent.

“This is part of reorienting the entire system to put motorists first,” NSW Transport Minister John Graham said.

“We are committing the extra revenue to ongoing toll relief, which is most needed in western Sydney.”

There has been one-way tolling on the Harbour Bridge since 1970.


But the status quo was threatened when the former Liberal government announced the under-construction Western Harbour Tunnel would be tolled in both directions.   

In the latest overhaul to the system plaguing what has been described as the world’s most-tolled city, administration fees for paying toll notices will also be scrapped.

Amid marathon negotiations to curtail their power, private toll operators have agreed to dump the fees, which brought in $618 million in the past financial year alone.


The chief executive of toll operator Transurban, Michelle Jablko, said the process to simplify charges to motorists was constructive and positive.

“This outcome is a step towards delivery of a fairer and simpler system … while continuing to protect the value of the investment Transurban and its partners have made,” she said.

While locking in the toll relief indefinitely may bump up the volume of drivers using the toll roads, Transurban has also agreed to hand over any extra revenue coming from higher traffic from mid-2026.

In January, the government revealed that drivers had left more than $140 million in possible relief unclaimed in the first year of the “toll cap”.

Leaders in Sydney’s outer suburbs have welcomed the decision to make the “cap” – actually a quarterly rebate scheme – permanent.

“This is a win for western Sydney commuters, who often have to spend more time on the road and travel longer distances,” Western Sydney Dialogue chief executive Adam Leto said.

Bobby. wrote Yesterday at 7:41am:


The bridge has been fully paid for since 1988 - For 37 years we have been paying for nothing.

I love toll roads.
I value my time at about 300 an hour.
A saving of 30 minutes is worth 150 bucks.
A 5 dollar toll is the saving of the century

aquascoot wrote Yesterday at 11:20am:



The minumum wage in Oz is 25 an hour.

Are people losers if they earn the minimum wage?

whiteknight wrote Yesterday at 6:03am:


ie,  increased government charges are needed to lower charges for tax-paying motorists.....such is the idiocy from 'fiscally responsible' (sic) governments.

The mainstream Neoclassical 'fiscal responsibility' narrative is itself the problem. 

Quote:


Yeh - defending Transurban's profits is necessary; but the private sector shouldn't even own the nation's roads.

......with taxpayers on the hook......

Solution:

https://publicmoneypublicgood.net/

ie, public money, not taxpayer money.

aquascoot wrote Yesterday at 11:20am:



You would.

How many taxes are you prepared to pay?

You pay towards roads with registration & fuel excise.

You pay towards roads with income taxes.

You pay sales tax, land tax, rates, fire levy, Stamp duty, Medicare levy, GST.

Why on earth do you think private enterprise should be running our suburban freeways & bridges as a shareholders milking cow?

Gnads wrote Yesterday at 12:59pm:


The state premiers disagree, or rather, they want the feds to pay more...

Quote:


Allowing the private sector to manage vital public services is always a disaster, but public services have to be funded....

Now governments (state and federal) can't even fund public hospitals, despite your assertion we already pay enough tax.

Bobby. wrote Yesterday at 2:40pm:


And yet today Albo is telling the state premiers to fund their own public  hospitals because the feds are broke...

The people stuck in ambulances for hours have been duped....