Aucklanders are being told not to take the prospect of a motorway toll too seriously.

Mayor Len Brown has raised the prospect of a $99 levy paid by ratepayers - and $159 for businesses - before motorway tolls are instituted in 2018.

But the government moved quickly to frown on the plan yesterday, with Transport Minister Simon Bridges saying the plan wouldn't fix congestion and public transport issues.

"We're sceptical about those and certainly we're not going to put in place funding tools where we don't think there's a good plan," he said.

"Certainly as a first stop we want a plan that we think deals with Auckland's issues and is going to deal with congestion and does see a modal shift on to public transport in an effective way

ACT leader David Seymour however says it makes sense for those who use the roads to pay the most "so long as the money is put back into roads and the charge is time-sensitive so it breaks down the worst congestion."

"I think that the government needs to face up to this challenge. Infrastructure has to be paid for and it is fairer to charge the people using it."

Auckland Chamber of Commerce head Michael Barnett believes the chance of a motorway toll actually getting introduced is remote.

"What local government is doing is saying to central government 'We want to put a toll on your road and we want to take the money for it'. I can't see central government doing that."

Barnett also says Aucklanders need to be wary and make sure the council doesn't use levies and tolls as an ongoing revenue stream.

"The biggest fear for the people of Auckland should be that this levy is introduced then just becomes a part of the collection of monies the council is getting from ratepayers."