A number of letters have recently been printed in The Weekend Sun concerning the Tauranga Harbour Bridge and the removal of past tolls. For the benefit of the growing population of the Tauranga District it is appropriate that they become familiar with the history of the harbour bridge and why there is now free passage over it.

In 1988 the new $27 million Tauranga Harbour Bridge was opened in an agreement between the Tauranga City Council and the independent Mount Borough Council.

The agreement between the two councils was that when the bridge was paid off it would become toll free.

However in 1989 the Labour Government arranged a marriage between the MBC and the TCC under the Local Government Act, as some might say the MBC became the reluctant bride with an accompanying and ongoing dowry. As a result of the amalgamation, all previous agreements between the two Councils became ineffective, and the TCC gained complete control over the collection and revenues from the bridge tolls.

It followed over time that TCC obviously did not want to stop the tolls. By 2001 contributions from bridge tolls had exceeded about $117 million.

Toll users had been targeted by the TCC as the golden fleece equivalent of cash cows, and the toll revenue was being used to pay for other TCC road projects such as the Routes P and J, plus the interchange.

Since the first day the bridge was opened it was obvious from traffic flows, especially at the Welcome Bay and Mangatapu connections with 15th Ave that the whole of the TCC was benefiting from the new bridge, not just the regular bridge users who remained the primary fundraisers.

As a results of the above, a group of about 10 concerned members of the public formed the Tolls Action Group in an effort to have the ongoing tolls removed.

TAG regarded the ongoing bridge tolls as an inequitable community charge on the regular bridge users. In 2001, after years of much hard work by all the TAG members, the bridge tolls were stopped ultimately as a result of the actions of two TAG members, who took their stand and became the first to stubbornly refuse to pay the bridge tolls.

The reason the two TAG members went down that track was due to TAG not getting anywhere communicating with local and national politicians about the removal of the tolls, it seemed that TAG was viewed as an irritant to be waved away.

Nonetheless, TAG's stance was both socially, morally and legally sound. As a desperate protest, by refusing to pay the toll the two TAG members thought that they might be able to challenge the TCC in a court of law by way of a summons or otherwise. However, each time a toll was refused a free trip was allowed with no following infringement notice.

The course of action and outcomes taken by the two TAG members was reported in the media.

The result was followed by an ongoing chaotic outcry from the bridge users at the bridge toll booths. Refusal to pay the toll and tailgating became a common occurrence.

Such was the resultant uproar that the dispute was aired on the ‘Paul Holmes' show. The TCC then carried out a public survey on the matter, which was overwhelmingly in favour of the removal of the bridge tolls.

In a desperate attempt to reverse that result the TCC called a public meeting to allow the people to have their opinions aired before the council, however that produced a similar result to the survey. TCC finally relented and the bridge tolls were stopped.

Examples of an action by a small group of the public achieving the success that TAG did –against the might of an elected establishment – must indeed be a rare international historical community event. Since the tolls were taken off in 2001 any car owner using the bridge twice a day, for 48 weeks of the year, has saved about $7200, a sum which no doubt, over time, has been used by many of the bridge users to help subsidise essential family living costs.

It must be acknowledged that in 2009 Winston Peters managed to broker a deal with the Labour Government that secured a free second add-on bridge and further links reportedly costing $255 million, thus the reintroduction of another questionable round of bridge tolls were avoided.

In a city that for many years was labelled $10 Tauranga, many bridge users, especially the poorly paid, did not need another inequitable financial burden to cope with. When the new bridge addition was officially opened, it was a shame that Winston's role was overlooked as he was not invited to attend.

D Wilson, Mount Maunganui.