Dartford Crossing Toll Increases

jimpix12

I live in Dartford - you can sometimes get caught in a queue for the tolls at 3am, so the post above is moot

punkrocker

Here are some answers to some questions:

(1) Why Motorcyclists are exempt? They cause as much pollution as a normal car as they are uncatalysed.

They do not have to pay as it takes alot of time for them to stop and the booth find the money and give it to the operator, it takes alot less time and saves traffic just to let them go for free

(2) If they are raising the toll to £1.50 why not just raise it to £1.10 or £1.20? I guess the attraction of tags for all and all that money sitting in the bank before it is deducted is too good to miss.

They are rasing the toll charge mainly to promote the dart tag system and speed up the time spent at the booths paying

(3) Why cyclists don't have to pay for the free lift they get through the tunnel?

The Dartford crossing has crossing controls going through the tunnel at all times so therefore they provide a free service to cyclisits as it is not a hassle to provide them with a crossing, also this is to promote cycling to work,

(4) Why they don't build one "Foreign driver lane" in each direction? That way the foreign truckers don't have to jump out of their cab to pay.

This would take up another manned booth or take away one of the automatic lanes, they are not allowed to build anymore booths either side hence why the tunnel side has more booths than the south side as it is

The tunnel is no longer going to be owned by the french which alot of people seem to be complaing about. The contract with the companies 'Le crossing' is coming to an end next year.

There sometimes can be traffic at 3am in the morning as the traffic at night depends on what time ferries from Dover come into the port as then all lorries tend to hit the crossing at the same time. This doesnt occur on the bridge side of the crossing normally.

And infact it doesnt cost anymore for them to employ thier night staff and they will still have to have night staff at the tolls when it goes free at night for break downs etc the main reason for making free at night is to promote the freight lorries to travel at these times.

Also the toll is no longer a toll it is a congestion charge.

Silly_Cow

punkrocker wrote: »

The local resident discount will allow 50 free travels and there 20pence a travel from then on. Only people who live in the Thrrock and Dartford council areas will be eligible

Although they have to pay £10 per year for those "free" journeys.:rolleyes:

mrbadexample

Andy_L wrote: »

Because we used to (deliberately) take ages to stop, take gloves off, hunt for money, put change away, gloves back on & ride off. Eventually they realised the money wasn't worth the delays to everyone else.

I'm gonna start doing that in my car. :rotfl:

GH122

Not sure if this link has been added already, but here are the new charges with and wihtout the Dart Tag.

http://www.dart-tag.co.uk/nossl/index.php?page=charges_and_discounts

We will certainly be gettting one to save on increased charges.

mickydx00

vikingaero wrote: »

(1) Why Motorcyclists are exempt? They cause as much pollution as a normal car as they are uncatalysed.


(4) Why they don't build one "Foreign driver lane" in each direction? That way the foreign truckers don't have to jump out of their cab to pay.

firstly i am a truck driver that uses dartford twice a day now at a cost of £3.70 (dartagged £3.20) a go and i also ride a motorbike.

as has been mentioned already motorcycle charges are nothing to do with pollution it is the time factor, think about it, riding along on yer bike no pockets in motorcycle leathers for the average 1 or 2 piece leathers, so where do you put your cash? in a backpack, so you pull up to toll booths, gloves off, backpack off and search for your cash, find it and pay then sit there and put backpack back on and gloves on then ride through! whats that going to take? a minute or so? now times that by the fact that you can get approx 5 or 6 bikes in the space of one car and already you have a queue that quickly grows and think about world superbike weekend at brands hatch just down the road when thousands of bikes use the crossing and noone is going anywhere, so the bikes go free decision was a sensible one.

my second point is about foreign trucks, last night i sat in a 20 mile queue for dartford and the cause of the hold up was perfectly obvious at the toll booths, left hand drive trucks! the booths just arent setup for left hand drive vehicles and as also has been said before the drivers have to either get out of cab or climb across the cab to pay the charge, the solution from where i see it wouldn't involve new booths or extra lanes but simply another window and operative on the right side of existing booths and controlls to appropriate lanes to gain access to left hand drive vehicles. with all the extra revenue rasised now this shouldn't be too much to ask with the high numbers of foreign trucks on our roads today, a simple solution to avoid the ridiculous queues which have increased since the introduction of the new charges.

punkrocker

mickydx00 wrote: »

my second point is about foreign trucks, last night i sat in a 20 mile queue for dartford and the cause of the hold up was perfectly obvious at the toll booths, left hand drive trucks! the booths just arent setup for left hand drive vehicles and as also has been said before the drivers have to either get out of cab or climb across the cab to pay the charge, the solution from where i see it wouldn't involve new booths or extra lanes but simply another window and operative on the right side of existing booths and controlls to appropriate lanes to gain access to left hand drive vehicles. with all the extra revenue rasised now this shouldn't be too much to ask with the high numbers of foreign trucks on our roads today, a simple solution to avoid the ridiculous queues which have increased since the introduction of the new charges.

So your telling me making one collector controling what could work out as two lanes would make sence and cut down quees?