The new owner of south east Queensland's major toll network hopes that over time “customers will see a better service”.
But Transurban, the leading shareholder (65%) of a consortium behind the winning $7 billion bid has no plans to introduce its US express lane concept, HOT lanes, where users pay more to drive faster, because it doesn't feel Australia is ready.
Chief Executive Officer Scott Charlton, said while his company – which manages toll assets in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as Virginia in the US – hoped its experience would improve customer service for toll users, it probably couldn't help them get to work any faster.
“We are a keen player in looking at long-term policy and long term how do we make cities perform better and that includes looking at how the whole network performs, be it roads or public transport, cycling or whatever, you need the whole network to perform,” he said.
“I think the express lanes or the HOT lanes concept in Virginia obviously helps do some really good work there for that network.
“I think long term it is about how the network operates and the policy. So, happy to have those discussions, [but] there are no plans and I think Australia is probably a fair way away from having a look at those types of things.
“But we are always open to trying to solve problems and if that solve problems, if that is one of the mechanisms we can use, we're happy to use that, but I think that is probably a fair way out in the Australian context.”
Transurban's purchase of Queensland Motorways leaves just BrisConnection's AirportLinkM7 as the only toll road it doesn't manage in southeast Queensland.
Mr Charlton said the company had no immediate plans to include AirportLink under its umbrella, but did consider the Logan and Gateway motorways, which provide 90 per cent of QML's revenue, as the “prize” in its newly acquired Queensland portfolio.
He said Transurban's role as owner operator was “critical to us unlocking the value of the network”.
“If you look at our track record with what we have done in Sydney and Melbourne, what we try to do is look at the network, particularly the network that touches us and say look, if you had additional capacity here, or an additional interconnection here, or maybe a different technology solution we can solve a problem for the community or solve a problem on the network, and that is what we do,” he said.
“We try to continue to develop the network. We're likely to bring ideas to the government over time, or the Brisbane City Council over time, to say how can we make the network better and hopefully develop solutions like we have done in Sydney and Melbourne over the past decade.”
Transurban has “been in the business” of owning and operating toll roads since 1996. It recently added Sydney's Cross City Tunnel to its portfolio which already boasts the city's M2 and Lane Cove Tunnel toll roads and Melbourne's CityLink, as well as US interests.
Mr Charlton said the company's experience would result in a better service, but would not affect price as the toll costs were regulated under franchise agreements with the government and Brisbane City Council, with increases tied to Queensland's CPI.
“Our call answering times, our web/online capability across our portfolio metric is improved above where QML is now, so hopefully customers over time will see a better service, that is the plan,” he said.
“…If you look at [toll roads] globally, we run roads with some of the best margins in the world, we think we're actually a world class operator, so whether you call our intellectual properties or our capabilities synergies, we think we are pretty good at doing what we do.
And I think, again, hence why eventually, it does seem that most of the toll roads [90 per cent worldwide] end up with owner operators. We can probably drive them a bit harder, than say, a passive investor.”
Transurban hopes to have the sale finalised by July.
