M6 Toll road ‘an expensive failure’
Tuesday 31st August 2010, 11:12AM BST.
The M6 Toll road is an expensive failure which has failed to end gridlock on one of Britain’s busiest stretches of motorway, a report revealed today.
Traffic jams around Birmingham are at least as bad as they were before the M6 Toll opened in 2003, according to the Campaign for Better Transport, which claims that fewer motorists each year are using the 27-mile stretch of road.
When the toll road opened, drivers were charged £2 to use it. A series of above-inflation increases has seen the bill rise to £5.
This has coincided with the number of motorists willing to pay falling dramatically, the study says.
In the spring of 2006 it attracted just under 60,000 drivers a day. By the start of this year, the figure had fallen to just over 40,000, marginally more than when the toll opened.
Those who are willing to pay can enjoy a far quicker journey during the rush hour, especially when travelling southbound when using the relief road takes around 40 minutes – about half the time needed on the M6.
But the report says at other times the time saving is little more than five minutes, meaning the toll is poor value for the motorist.
The campaign group says the Highways Agency itself has admitted that by 2008 traffic levels on the stretch of the M6 running parallel to the toll road were as they were before it opened.
“The M6 Toll has provided so little congestion relief that the Highways Agency has been forced to allocate hundreds of millions of pounds for additional capacity,” the report adds.
Proposals include allowing cars to use the hard shoulder during the rush hour. But this, according to the campaign, would cost between £300 to £500 million.
“Toll roads are not, and will never be, a solution to congestion on Britain’s roads, no matter how attractive they may appear to cash-strapped politicians desperate to deliver otherwise unaffordable road schemes,” the report says.
However an AA spokesman defended the toll road, saying: “Drivers who use it are happy to pay the premium, because it avoids the horribly lorry-congested M6.”
By Business Editor Amy Bould
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I used to use the toll between Cannock and where it merges with the M42… at the time of opening and for a short while it was a brilliant relief for me whilst travelling to Solihull daily… however now the prices are now £10 per day there is no I would use the toll road.. I would prefer to sit in an hours worth of traffic than pay £200 per month!
I do a lot of driving in Europe and for the longest toll I have used which was around 60 miles I didn’t pay any more than £4 to use it…
Surely the british Highways should take a few notes to how the Europeans deal with congestion?
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The toll road is a much more civilised and much less stressful route than the M6 but is out of reach for most with petrol prices rising far above expectations it just makes it too expensive to travel on – If the price was reduced I am sure more people would use it,and the losses would be much less.
If you were to use it every working day too and from a destination it would be an extra £50 per week onto travel expenses.
For lorries this is an expense companies would have to pass on and put up the already spiralling cost of living.
Time v cost = No brainer in this current climate.
My husband does use it and finds the tag system useful but only when he is travelling the complete distance – There is no reduction for part distances which makes it even worse.
We have also used it when we have been towing the caravan but we did have to think twice – We only used it to avoid the traffic and cut the travelled time down on a very long distance.
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I use the toll road for business travel, where I can claim the £5 charge back, but only during busy periods. Outside of those times the regular M6 is fine.
I agree that it’s poor value for money and I don’t understand why they keep increasing the charge. I’m sure if they dropped it to a more reasonable amount, the increase in demand would lead to increased revenue.
If it cost £2, then I would probably use it for personal travel too, but as it stands I opted to crawl along the A5 last week when I went to Tamworth.
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To state the obvious – reduce the price per car to £2, and you will increase traffic on the Toll road and reduce traffic on the M6 from Jnct 12 to Jnct 4a (and Vice Versa)
Just as an aside, if you are travelling South on the Toll Road (from M6 Jnct 12) and leave at the junction for the A38, Burton / Lichfield, the Toll fee is £3.80. However if you join at the A38 Jnct and go North towardss the M6, its costs £5 to get through the Toll. Why the diffference??
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£200 per month on using one road?! Ludicrous!
The figures speak for themselves and should come as a reminder to Tim Yeo that toll roads are not the way forward, they just force people to use roads with less capacity, and block up other areas of the country, increasing accidents and congestion.
Compulsory purchase the M6 toll, and make the money back by charging 50p instead of £5
Simples.
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Someone expected to make a quick buck on building this white elephant, now they have reaped what they have sown.
The majority of motorists feel they are taxed enough and are not prepared to pay for what the state should supply, an efficient road network.
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I went out for the day visiting a National Trust site just outside Chichester I think it was. The AA route finder sent me down the toll which I rarely use and I paid £10.00 that day to use, probably almost equal to the petrol I used for the trip so it is too expensive. Yes it’s nice to avoid congestion but most of the time I had the toll road entirely to myself (all I needed was the blacked out chauffeur driven car and an escort and I’d probably have looked like a superstar entourage!) It is too expensive and you don’t get much of a discount on the tag system.
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I agree that the cost is very high for a return trip on this ‘Toll Road’
Here’s an idea for the owners, What about the BOGOF offers available everywhere.
‘BUY ONE GET ONE FREE’
Return travelers would half their costs, and I suggest the traffic flow will increase, this would more then cover the half price offer loss.
Say it’s tried for say ‘Every Monday Morning’ for a month, and see how many would use it then.
IF YOU WANT TO SELL ANYTHING, ADVERTISE IT IS COMING, AND NOT SIT ON YOUR Errrrm YES, AND HOPE THINGS WILL IMPROVE FOR GUESS WHAT? IT WON’T UNLESS YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
Whats the betting it will have more revenue that day that any other.
Is this at least worth a try????
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The toll road was a total nonsense in terms of transport policy (decided by the previous Conservative govt), but of course the Australian owner is happy. He can charge what he likes, as long as enough drivers are willing to pay. (He said it was a licence to print money.) He can price the lorries off his road and on to the old motorway, because they are what do the biggest damage to the surface (it depends on axle weight). And if I remember rightly he has another 40 years before he has to hand it over to the government.
In France, I believe, a relatively short section of motorway taking the long-distance traffic off an urban local road (which is what that section of the old M6 should be) is free of tolls – I have only ever been charged tolls on the long distance stretches.
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“M6 Toll road ‘an expensive failure’”
As was pointed out by the protestors before all that land was wasted.
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Its far to expensive, it would work if cheaper, not everyone, but a lot more would use it if it was dropped to £2-3. The toll road network in Europe is brilliant and cheap, I also thinkit charges by how far you’ve travelled not the one off fee. I’m sure the idea of the toll road would work, but needs to have some more thought put into it than currently!
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thank god they didnt go ahead with that idea for the north west relief road in shrewsbury then would have been exactly the same result
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While the basics of this report are current, we need to be careful taking advice on motorways from the Campaign for Better [sic] Transport, who have made it quite public in the past that they don’t think the private car has a place in an integrated transport network.
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“The campaign group says the Highways Agency itself has admitted that by 2008 traffic levels on the stretch of the M6 running parallel to the toll road were as they were before it opened.”
Well of course, because there are people who live along the M6 who wouldn’t dare to use it at rush hour. When the toll road opened, some space on the M6 was created and the locals filled it up. The same thing will happen if you made the M6 Toll free.
Is this a bad thing? No, because it means people have more choice and freedom over their travelling.
You can achieve anything with statistics.
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Congestion on the M6 probably wouldn’t be quite so bad around that sort of area if they didn’t insist on having roadworks there all the bloody time.
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When they opened this road it should have been free to use and the charges should have been imposed to use the old M6.
Simples !!
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I use the toll road whenever I travel north / south from Shrewsbury. In my opinion it is worth the money every single journey. The stress of travelling along the M6 across Brum is immense. As another motorist says it is much more civilised. The road is a commercial venture. A question to those people complaining it costs too much – do you travel via economy when you fly? You know you can get better service on 1st or business? You pays your money you travel easier. It’s up to you!
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Since lorries are the main source of road wear and congestion on the m6 they should be allowed to use the m6 toll for a nominal fee and therefore free up the M6 for cars.
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Not only does it costs too much can anybody tell me why when everywhere cost cutting is prelevant are so many lights are needed around the Junctions on the toll road.After the rush hour has ended who but travelling on it as a novelty,the very rich,companies with money to burn and the insane would use this road.The idea as used in countries is for me fair enough,at least foriegn drivers are paying towards the cost of the roads where in this stupid country the Motorways are full of foreign HGV vehicles paying zilch towards the cost.HOW ABOUT charging a toll to enter the road system which would go towards the cost of the upkeep
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