Re: Chancellor proposes motorways for the rich. : Mon Nov 21, 2011 12:18 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

What they should do with motorways is ban freight traffic. That should be kept to the rail network and that should be upgraded.

Have you ever seen a congestion map for the railways?

Re: Chancellor proposes motorways for the rich. : Mon Nov 21, 2011 12:47 pm  

Standee wrote:

M6 isn't used because there is a free alternative that runs practically alongside it.

The M6 toll isn't used because its cost now outweighs its benefits, also any new toll road is going to find free alternative routes close by, we are not a huge country after all.

Re: Chancellor proposes motorways for the rich. : Mon Nov 21, 2011 1:27 pm  

EHW wrote:

The people who don't want to pay will benefit from having less traffic on the free section of the roads.

The M6 Toll seems to work pretty well, in my experience.

No it doesn't. They have signs saying "M6 Toll Clear" but nothing to say whether the M6 is clear or not. You are unable to make an informed choice - it's just another example of rip-off Britain. Now, if they had a sign saying both stretches were clear how many would use the Toll road?

Re: Chancellor proposes motorways for the rich. : Mon Nov 21, 2011 1:29 pm  

cod'ead wrote:

Go on then, which autobahns, autoroutes and autostradas have separate toll lanes for express traffic?

Or are you talking about full toll-routes? If so, then the M6 toll is a prime example of how that works over here. You could hold a banquet across it on most days

It's the same in Europe. One minute you're on a busy motorway, next minute you're on a beautiful new road with no one else on it for miles. At that point you realise you're on a Toll motorway and you've missed the sign!

Re: Chancellor proposes motorways for the rich. : Mon Nov 21, 2011 1:54 pm  

Thought we already paid a toll for all of our roads, Car Tax.

Re: Chancellor proposes motorways for the rich. : Mon Nov 21, 2011 3:02 pm  

Ovavoo wrote:

Thought we already paid a toll for all of our roads, Car Tax.

and car tax is totally unfair, road tax and third party insurance should be levvied on fuel, much fairer.

Re: Chancellor proposes motorways for the rich. : Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:50 pm  

Standee wrote:

and car tax is totally unfair, road tax and third party insurance should be levvied on fuel, much fairer.

Nowadays that would suit me down to the ground. Not too sure if the hauliers would agree though.

Re: Chancellor proposes motorways for the rich. : Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:51 pm  

The fact that construction companies are begging for some sort of kick start to the housing market and government guarantees for first time mortgagees is an indicator of just how much spare cash those national (and often international) construction companies have to throw around on projects that have already been proven to fail.

The cash for housing on the other hand already has a successful model to follow from '08 to '10 when the government backed house purchase share scheme was in place, it was actually a boom time for builders when first time buyers could get onto the mortgage treadmill, its no coincidence that the sector has crashed again as soon as the scheme was withdrawn.

Re: Chancellor proposes motorways for the rich. : Mon Nov 21, 2011 8:33 pm  

McLaren_Field wrote:

The fact that construction companies are begging for some sort of kick start to the housing market and government guarantees for first time mortgagees is an indicator of just how much spare cash those national (and often international) construction companies have to throw around on projects that have already been proven to fail.

The cash for housing on the other hand already has a successful model to follow from '08 to '10 when the government backed house purchase share scheme was in place, it was actually a boom time for builders when first time buyers could get onto the mortgage treadmill, its no coincidence that the sector has crashed again as soon as the scheme was withdrawn.

That's what happens when you let the markets decide. The coalition ended the house-share scheme and suddenly there was buggerall demand, so instead of admitting they'd ballsed up, they come up with another scheme to try to stimulate the market but it's not a 'U' turn. Oh no.

[DaveO]

Re: Chancellor proposes motorways for the rich. : Mon Nov 21, 2011 11:46 pm  

When the second bridge crossing of the Mersey is complete that will be a toll bridge and they are going to make the existing Runcorn / Widnes bridge a toll bridge as well so there isn't a free alternative.

This has gone down like a lead balloon with the locals because Runcorn and Widnes were made into Halton development zone and as a result a lot of development work was done but most of it on the Widnes side of the bridge. So the Runcorn population who regularly travel across the bridge to use the huge Tesco and other shops, go to the multiplex cinema over there or just to enjoy the redeveloped waterfront suddenly face paying tolls to do so. These clearly were not part of the plan when the Halton development was envisaged.

The Runcorn locals campaigned for passes for free use of the Bridge on the basis that it was their council taxes that went to fund the Halton development and now they were going to be penalised when wanting to access it but were refused. They will get a discount instead but its probably still going to reduce the local traffic and affect the businesses in Widnes.

A fine example of British coordinated planning for you!