CRA prepared a number of expert reports for Transurban that were submitted to the ACCC in the context of the ACCC’s investigation of Transurban’s proposed acquisition of a majority interest in the WestConnex project (three significant toll road concessions in the Sydney region).
The CRA reports established an appropriate framework for defining the bounds of the markets for the supply of toll road services to motorists and demonstrated that, due to the inelastic nature of demand at capped toll levels, the acquisition of WestConnex by an alternative bidder was unlikely to result in a reduction in tolls or significant improvements in service quality compared to an acquisition by Transurban. The ACCC accepted the CRA analysis, noting that only a small number of road users in Sydney would be likely to switch between current Transurban toll roads and the WestConnex toll roads. CRA also advised Transurban on whether its access to detailed traffic data or ability to leverage toll road assets would be likely to lessen competition for future toll road concessions. In order to obtain ACCC clearance, Transurban undertook to publish the traffic data that Transurban uses when bidding for new concessions, which will assist all bidders to compete for new concessions