The map shows the ‘most tolled city’ in Australia, with Sydney drivers forced to pay $123 billion over the past decades

Sydney motorists are expected to spend at least $123 billion over nearly four decades on the city’s disjointed and largely privately operated toll road network.

Modeling from NSW Treasury and transport officials shows $64 billion alone will be paid under a deal struck by the previous coalition government with Transurban for the 33km WestConnex system.

“You can’t even get a mobile phone contract without being told the minimum amount,” Roads Minister John Graham said in a statement on Monday.

“And yet, under the former Coalition government, NSW motorists have been fined more than $100 billion in toll costs, without any disclosure.

The toll bill, projected until 2060, includes figures for privatized concessions including the entire WestConnex system, NorthConnex, the Eastern Distributor, M2 and M7.

It also includes figures for the government-owned Sydney Harbor Bridge and tunnel, and the future phase one of the M6.

Prime Minister Chris Minns said toll road operations should never have been privatised.

“We are the most tolerated city in the world,” he said.

Prime Minister Chris Minns (photo) declared Sydney the city with the most tolls in the world

Transurban, which owns the vast majority of Sydney’s toll roads, says it is open to government input to improve the system, including a review led by former ACCC chairman Professor Allan Fels.

The company said in a contribution to the review that it supports some of what has been proposed so far, including distance-based tolling, geographic zones, entrance fees and time-of-day pricing to manage demand.

“Transurban is open and willing to discuss options to improve Sydney’s toll road network,” the submission said.

‘At the same time, it is important for the Review to reflect on the benefits that drivers already experience on a daily basis.’

The figure revealed on Monday is the total bill potentially paid by motorists and from which operators pay their running costs, maintenance and other costs.

The figures are based on conservative assumptions, including long-term inflation of 2.5 percent and expected population growth, the government said.

The state recently increased tolls on the Sydney Harbor Bridge and tunnels for the first time in more than a decade, introducing a 6.8 per cent increase to help pay for motorists’ $60 weekly toll limit.

Tolls on other highways generally rise in line with inflation, although Transurban is guaranteed an annual increase of at least four percent on some projects, such as WestConnex.

The former ACCC boss is conducting an investigation into Sydney’s expensive road toll system

Natalie Ward, spokeswoman for the transport movement, questioned the figures and dismissed the 40-year forecast as a “made up number”.

‘If Labor doesn’t agree with a user-pays approach, why are they still committed to tolling the first phase of the M6 ​​and the Western Harbor Tunnel, both government-owned projects where they can lift the toll tomorrow,” she said.

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said Sydney’s sprawling toll system was disjointed and called for a standardized pricing structure.

“The toll should be set at a fair price,” he said.

“It’s part of a broader discussion we need to have about more significant and meaningful reforms in the way we tax motorists in general.”

It comes as drivers wait to find out if NSW Labor’s election pledge to cap tolls will apply to them.

About one in 10 motorists are expected to share more than $560 million in toll refunds over two years when the $60 weekly toll cap goes into effect in January.

The plan was a key election promise aimed at winning Labor seats in Sydney’s west, where most of the city’s toll roads are located.

But Graham last week declined to say exactly how the limit would be applied, including in the case of two family members sharing two tags on one toll bill.