If congestion charges work to break up gridlock, why don't we have them in place by now?

Auckland's mayor appears to be in a rush to introduce congestion charges, but they are not new - they have been on the cards since the super city first formed 12 years ago.

A scenic morning commute in Auckland.

Congestion charges proposed for both Auckland and Tauranga are being held up as the answer to our gridlock crises.

Auckland mayor Wayne Brown wants to chomp through red tape, objections, and even consultation in his hurry to slap a peak-hour payment of up to $5 on two jammed-up stretches of city motorway in particular.

"It's a simple solution, well-tried around the world, nothing particularly new about it," he told Morning Report last week.

His answers to specific objections about the charges perhaps disadvantaging the less well-off, people with children to drop off, and tradies, generally started with the word "bollocks".

Auckland Council's transport and infrastructure committee has endorsed a plan to create a team to progress a "time-of-use" system of charging, which will probably use number plate recognition to discourage drivers hitting the road at peak times.

The mayor wants action on it now.

"If you're not in a rush, nothing happens here other than the speed of global warming," he says.

It seems Auckland has not been in a rush, because such schemes were first talked about 12 years ago.

If they work so well, why are they taking so long to put in place?

Tim Welch, a senior lecturer in urban planning at the University of Auckland, says it is like anything - "why does it take us so long to reduce the number of car parks on major corridors that could use buses, or protected bike lanes?

"It's just any time something about transportation or addressing cars ... the kind of fight or flight response is 'oh, you're going to take my car away from me'. It gets really politically sensitive.

"So even though it's been supported by both major parties, and it's been supported by the public to some degree, it's just something that politicians don't necessarily want to stick their neck out on."

'If we put on a charge, some people will drop off and then traffic will flow quicker without building any extra roads,' Auckland mayor Wayne Brown told RNZ's Morning Report.

But congestions charges work, and the most-cited example is London. …

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details