Are we about to witness the return of the pothole?

Both Labour and National want to freeze increases to the petrol tax. 

Labour would stop 22c a litre over three years. The Nats probably won't, coalition willing, go ahead with the 12c hike pencilled in for January. 

The problem is this money goes into a big fund - along with RUCS from trucks - to pay for building and fixing our roads. 

Remember at the last election people were angry as hell about potholes. 

They're nasty things. Wheely annoying. Rim-wreckers. Rim-shredders.

Panel beaters had a field day... performing more rim jobs than you could shake a stick at.

We had 62k potholes back then. Highest number in a decade. 

The money to fill them in comes from the petrol tax. 

It's ring-fenced into a pothole fund. 

Less money in that mean means crapper roads. 

To make matters worse, Labour wants to raid this fund to pay for cheaper bus fares for city folk. 

It's one of their election promises. 

So, the fund is being starved on new money at the same it's being robbed - a Peter to pay Paul-type situation. 

The coalition's making it's call on Monday about the funding. 

The easy route is to stop the tax. The hard route is to hike it. 

Which means no matter who's in charge, we'll probably have cheaper gas next year but wrecked rims, and that includes, ironically, the buses.