Tolls 'could pay for new roads'...

Thrugelmir

BertieUK wrote: »

I am not a great fan either of the present serving Ministers as they only think of their themselves.

Shame that Darling has taken a step back. As he certainly would have added a sensible voice to the debate that rages on. Certainly was pivotal in rescuing the UK banking system.

coastline

This idea isn't a new one as there were plans to introduce a network of toll roads to link major cities...
There was a suggestion to create a route around London and even recently a link to Dover.

From May 2002..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1996237.stm

Hard to tell if they will be a success as they ain't going to be 80p one way..;)
Its a bit of a blow if you need to use them even once a day..£25 a week...£100 a month...sharp adds up...nearly as much as your gas/electric bill..

http://www.m6toll.co.uk/pricing/

BertieUK

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Shame that Darling has taken a step back. As he certainly would have added a sensible voice to the debate that rages on. Certainly was pivotal in rescuing the UK banking system.

Darling seemed to me to be a Minister who I could have confidence in, his delivery was on level playing field, ok he had his faults as no doubt the oppos' will grab onto.

Albert Einstein said ....Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

Going4TheDream

MacMickster wrote: »

I would say that it has. Over 40,000 vehicles per day pay to use the M6 toll. I doubt that they do this just to demonstrate how wealthy they are by driving up and down this stretch of road for the fun of it. I suspect that they are on journeys that they would have made anyway, and choose to pay the toll to avoid the congestion on the main M6. As has been pointed out already, if not enough people use it to make it viable then the only losers are the shareholders.

Car useage in this country is decreasing anyway, as the cost of motoring increases. You can see the effect that taking a relatively small proportion of cars off congested routes by observing how much easier commuters find it during the school summer holidays.

The national purse is currently stuffed full of IOUs. The government does not have the money to carry out the improvements needed to the road network. Asking private companies to fund the building of new roads, which they can then charge drivers to use seems like a no brainer to me.

Perhaps you havent sat on the M6 to see that the 40000 users has made very little difference to the queues and traffic delays in this area. Yes it would be worse if we had that extra number on the main Motorway though.

I would be interested to see what percentage of that 40000 is your average Joe on the street or people who use it as their company foot the bill ? I live and work in this area and very few who travel on the junctions supported by the toll road can afford to use it daily if at all, even local businesses as the '20 minutes' saved is not considered cost effective. It is currently £11 per day (2 journeys) with only a small reduction for a tag for a car. increasing sharply for HGV vehicles

I am sure those companies that do allow use will recuperate their costs somehow though perhaps meaning higher costs for consumers ?

The roads are quieter as a rule during summer holidays as parents tend to stay off to avoid high child care????

grizzly1911

Going4TheDream wrote: »

I am sure those companies that do allow use will recuperate their costs somehow though perhaps meaning higher costs for consumers ?

When I really used to use it my company reimbursed it as it probably saved at least an hour each way on the commute at peak times. Judging by the metal on the road I wasn't the only one.

I have used it a handful of times, in the period it has been open, for personnel use for a very good reason e.g. flight to catch, in convoy, odd rush hour, otherwise happy to sit on the M6.

Lets start charging foreign travelers, for all motorway use, first and see how it goes. Probably can't because of the EU.

Going4TheDream

grizzly1911 wrote: »

When I really used to use it my company reimbursed it as it probably saved at least an hour each way on the commute at peak times. Judging by the metal on the road I wasn't the only one.

I have used it a handful of times, in the period it has been open, for personnel use for a very good reason e.g. flight to catch, in convoy, odd rush hour, otherwise happy to sit on the M6.

Lets start charging foreign travelers, for all motorway use, first and see how it goes. Probably can't because of the EU.

I think that is the crux.... a handful of times for personal use, which we have all done. A big difference to paying £11 round trip each day to go to work....

I use the toll roads in France, very quick and a great way to get down South quickly on holiday. mainly full of either lorries on business (mainly non French) or majority non French car users. We have also driven the non toll routes, very busy and congested but free. I still cant help thinking that road tolls are out of the reach ofaverage every day motorist to get to work on a daily basis. To make a big difference any new toll roads need to be used to a higher degree than the M6 toll to make a real difference to the problem it is suggested they will solve?

pqrdef

A._Badger wrote: »

Question is who do we trust to spend our money wisely?


The answer simple. The man or woman who earned it.

They didn't earn it single-handed. They'd make chuff all without the social infrastructure. Poeple who don't even understand that are the last people to be making decisions about public spending.

pqrdef

Most new roads are built to bypass villages, bring jobs, that sort of thing. The direct benefit to the direct user isn't the case for the road. So discouraging people from using the road would be counterproductive.

To reduce congestion, put a toll on the congested road, not on the alternative. Make the user who's clogging it up pay the environmmental cost of hsi selfishness.

BertieUK

This is one story which is hard to believe:-

Scottish councils paid out more than £33m for compensation claims over the last five years, figures released after a Freedom of Information request show.

The figures, requested by the Scottish Tories, showed that £33.2m was spent settling 13,000 claims from 2007-2012.

The party said it suggested there was a "compensation culture" which was "spiralling out of control".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-20842053

CLAPTON

BertieUK wrote: »

This is one story which is hard to believe:-

Scottish councils paid out more than £33m for compensation claims over the last five years, figures released after a Freedom of Information request show.

The figures, requested by the Scottish Tories, showed that £33.2m was spent settling 13,000 claims from 2007-2012.

The party said it suggested there was a "compensation culture" which was "spiralling out of control".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-20842053

given the shocking state of the roads and the ensuring damagers to cyclists I'm also surprised the number of claims was so small.