Free Access For Trucks To M6 Toll

[mushroom25]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22245001

will this make a difference to the chronic road congestion in the midlands?

[Gromit]

Totally bonkers. Instead of one congested motorway there will be two. Why on earth would motorists pay to use a toll road full of lorries. The whole point of the toll road was to make a quick congestion free route for those prepared to pay. This is the worse of all worlds.

[mccfluff]

they need to make the price cheaper, for me to go to the stoke office, its far quicker for me to use the toll but will cost me a tenner (in a car). That's too expensive for everyday use

[ToraToraTora]

Perhaps they should make it free for BMWs only!

[tonyav]

Possibly, but only for one month.

[Old_Geezer]

No congestion for the wealthy has been spoilt for them ?
Tsk, now they'll have to suffer the same as the Hoi polloi then.

[tonyav]

Agree with fluff, it's over priced and I avoid using it if I can.

[jake-the-peg]

Wouldn't it be great if there were a plan for a high speed rail link to go up the midlands?

Then it could take freight? Doh!!!

[whiskeryron]

My honest opinion is to lower the charges & make ALL motorways toll roads, this would bring us into line with Continental & U.S. main routes & mean better maintained roads at a cost to everyone who uses them.

WR.

[tonyav]

Good idea Ron, we could get rid of the road fund licence then.

[whiskeryron]

tonyav. Hear,Hear.

WR.

[Old_Geezer]

How awful have to stop and pay tolls every so often. It's one of the few things we in the UK get right (most of the time). Society needs roads so fund them centrally from taxation. After all, the money collected, as I understand it, far exceeds what is spend on the roads already, so there is no reason for a toll system to produce better maintained roads. It's all down to the willingness to provide the right budget rather than use the motorist as a easy target cash cow. And I reckon the road fund licence wouldn't go as a result, it's too useful as a record. Much better if the rest of the world followed a good example than everyone dumb down to their bad one, yet again.

[TheOtherHalf]

we once got on here by mistake and still had to pay even though we were just looking for a way to turn off. We were on our way to a funeral and ended up missing the service. We wondered at the time why it was so quiet on there

[tonyav]

Yes TOH, it doesn't matter if you go the whole distance of the Toll Road or travel for just one junction, it's the same price !.

[TWR]

Gromit, You do not know much about HGVs do you? Why is there so much damage to the elevated sections around Birmingham? why are they forever repairing the road? (Totally bonkers) who you think pays for the delays in Deliveries? why is there so much hold ups around the (M6) >>(M5) Split? when you know the facts come back with a better response like your, "Totally bonkers" If they lowered the Toll the HGVs would use the bloody road & not pay the rip off prices.

[Baldric]

I wish I could say I understood that ^^^^^ but.........

[Old_Geezer]

I had that on my one trip to the States. Took a wrong turn, got on a road I didn't want to be on, got off as soon as I could and had to pay for being where I didn't want to be in the first place. Awful system

[tonyav]

TWR, they are in the process of making the M6 from junc 8 to juct 11 into a four lane stretch right now, it means using the hard shoulder as another lane. I believe they are in the process of fitting new gantry signs now doing the work at night.

[LazyGun]

Something needs to be done.It is not as if traffic congestion around Birmingham/Midlands is anything new - they were planning a relief road from around 1980.

Is it fit for purpose as it stands? it was originally planned as a relief road after all, to lower congestion on the M6 and I do not think it has achieved that goal at all. The reason why has to be the toll fees. Dartford Crossing works because there really is not practicable alternative, so everyone pays up with varying degrees of enthusiasm. But the M6 toll road has never attracted the level of traffic it was designed for, especially trucks from the road haulage firms, because of the cost.

It has become, comparatively speaking,a ghost road, populated mostly by the unsuspecting and those who can afford it.

If it is ever to achieve its purpose, the toll fees need to be reduced. And it is not as if the need for a relief road has gone away.

[Gromit]

They didn't want the HGVs to use the toll road, that is why it was priced to deter them. It is he lorries that clog up the motorways around Birmingham and wreck the surface.

I am travelling at the moment, I can't easy check where this daft idea has come from. 'll be back later.

[mccfluff]

its ridiculously over priced, its cost £190 approx for my boss to travel to and from home, he has a tag so gets a small discount (£8.16 this month whoopy do)

its too expensive for day to day use for your average driver. Giving a free month to HGV drivers won't do anything - its more expensive for them to use so they will just go back to M6