M6 toll or not on a Saturday?

Joe_Horner

Bear in mind that the roadworks at the moment cover less than 10 miles between jn 10 and where the toll rejoins the main motorway.

Assuming the traffic is flowing at the posted 50mph* limit (that's a judgement to make on the day), that 10 miles will take 12 minutes. At 70mph it would take 9 minutes. That's a 3 minute saving by using the toll - except it's not because the toll is half a mile longer, so the saving is just over 2 1/2 minutes.

So it may feel like crawling through the roadworks at 50 is wasting a lot of time, but it really isn't! To me, being a tight git, saving 2 1/2 minutes simply isn't worth £4.80*!

And I don't get stressed by the "slow" route because I know it's an illusion in real terms



* That's the equivalent of £115 per hour for the use of their tarmac!

Broadwood

I will NEVER pay to use the M6 Toll road on principle. (I have been on it once driving an MOD vehicle as they are exempt from the charge.)

My thinking is that the more motorists use Toll roads, the more likely it is that the government will introduce more of them in the future. We already pay road tax and fuel duty to drive on the roads - much more than is actually spent on them - so why pay again?

If we all stuck together and refused to use the M6 Toll then the company would soon accept a cash offer from the government to nationalise it. Same as happened to Toll bridges in Scotland. (e.g. the Skye Bridge where some locals went to prison for refusing to pay the tolls before it became free to use - irrc.).

JonathanA

I would rarely pay to use the M6 toll on a weekend as unless there has been an incident on the main M6, the journey time saving is probably not worth it.

However, I do use the M6 Toll during the week as at the time of day I travel it can save me anything up to an hour and a half, depending on how long the M6 queue is. On that basis, it is value for money!

Lum

Likewise I'd use it when work were picking up the bill. I did enough unpaid overtime for them as it was without saving them £4.50 by sitting in a queue on the way home.

If they raised the speed limit on the M6 Toll to something like 90 or 100, I'd probably pay for it too. As it happens the M6 Toll is really heavily policed so those who are inclined to break the limit during quiet times would probably fare better on the M6 so long as the HADECS isn't active.

OT: I'd also like to give special mention to the unmarked police Volvo on the M6 Toll who was pulling over someone who had just overtaken me and cut in front. The muppet police officer didn't even bother to check before trying to pull into the side of my car causing me to have to brake heavily to avoid an accident.

wba31

Just another note on the M6 bit, as approaching Junction 6 from either direction, the hard shoulder (now lane 1) is for junction 6 only, so all traffic staying on the carriageway has to move into lanes 2 or 3, it is difficult at most times of the day to maintain the 50mph limit. as I saw on Friday, and accident occured on the approach to J6 on southbound, and the cars/lorry pulled onto hard shoulder (lane 1) so ALL traffic was forced into lanes 2/3, and the whole thing was stop start. I went through not long after incident, dread to think what it was like later, so the whole "time to get through" calculations are on a best case scenario.

The roadworks are due to complete in December this year, meaning in busy periods the whole stretch will have 4 lanes and variable speed limits, hopefully will make it much more pleasant to negotiate...

alternatively, save your pennies, and take M5/M42 round the city, easy peasy...

zagubov

Did the OPs journey every year for about 30 years. The M6 Toll's the only way for me. I'd rather drive further than sit in a traffic jam and the entire population of Brum seems to own two cars each and drive tham all at the same time. It's the best fiver I'll ever spend.

Get your petrol cheap at Carlisle Tescos J43 M6, Bamber Bridge Sainsbury's J29 M6 or Tesco Solihull J4 on the M42. That'll make the toll better to bear. The services are all overpriced.;)

w211

I'll always use the toll road, it's worth paying for the pleasure of driving on a near-empty stretch of road. Given the high cost of motoring, paying it won't make much more of a difference anyway! As mentioned the services (Norton Canes) are pleasant, too.