UK...'Pay-as-you-go' road charge plan!

'Pay-as-you-go' road charge plan

Drivers could pay up to £1.34 a mile in "pay-as-you go" road charges under new government plans.
The transport secretary said the charges, aimed at cutting congestion, would replace road tax and petrol duty.

Alistair Darling said change was needed if the UK was to avoid the possibility of "LA-style gridlock" within 20 years.

Every vehicle would have a black box to allow a satellite system to track their journey, with prices starting from as little as 2p per mile in rural areas.


Governments will upset at their peril society's wish to do what it wants to do and that is to move around
Professor Garel Rhys
Centre for Automotive Industry Research


Mr Darling has outlined his proposals to the BBC - previewing a speech he will give to the Social Market Foundation on Thursday.

"The advantage is that you would free up capacity on the roads, you would reduce the congestion that we would otherwise face and you would avoid the gridlock that you see in many American cities today," he said.

"This is a prize well worth going for. We've got to ask ourselves: would it work. Could it bring the benefits that I believe it could bring, because it would make a real change to the way we drive in this country."

A satellite tracking system would be used to enforce the toll, with prices varying from 2p per mile for driving on a quiet road out of the rush hour to £1.34 for motorways at peak times.

The Department of Transport says the scheme would be fairer because those who travel greater distances would pay the most.

"We have got to do everything we can during the course of this parliament to decide whether or not we go with road pricing," Mr Darling said.

If public reaction is favourable, a pilot scheme planned for the Leeds area could be rolled out nationwide within the next 10 years.


The Environment Agency's Nick Rijke warned that shifting money away from fuel duty would take away the incentive for people to use green vehicles.

And AA Motoring Trust director Bert Morris said there were a number of issues which needed to be addressed.

"Tourism is car-based in this country. Would we have empty hotels on summer days on the coast if people couldn't afford to drive?"

It was also important to ensure that drivers with less money were not penalised, Mr Morris added.

RAC Foundation spokeswoman Sue Nicholson said the plan could help counter a projected 45% growth in congestion problems by 2030.

Improving alternatives

"Providing this tax was substitutional to fuel tax and road tax and provided we had some other guarantees then I think, for a lot of people, this would be a tempting option," she said.

Environmental group Friends of the Earth broadly welcomed road charging but warned the transport crisis could only be tackled if money raised was invested in improving alternatives to car travel.

Professor Garel Rhys, director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff university's business school, believed road pricing would have to be introduced in the UK.

But he warned: "The key is trying to introduce those tolls without affecting the flow of traffic, ie. not having to stop and pay at a booth which caused congestion itself.

"Governments will upset at their peril society's wish to do what it wants to do and that is to move around."




I'd rather they just out and out said give us as much money as possible so we can give it to worthy causes like illegal immigrants, junkies and people going to the european court of human rights to protest their right to burn British and American flags in the street instead of bullshitting us

Replace the gas and road taxes? *snort* No way. Has anyone here ever heard of a tax that has been repealed?

Black boxes in cars that are tracked by satellite = majory erosion of privacy. Expect an underground industry to (justly) arise and make a killing taking the spy chips out of people's cars.

Adrian

Ask Maggie Thatcher about that one.

Alrighty then, so there have been a select few...it happens once in a blue moon.

Adrian

There is an electronic toll highway in southern Ontario. We have a little black box that is mounted on the windshield. It records where you enter the highway and where you exit and you are charged according to when you travel.

The 407 is not a government-owned highway, though it does operate under a leasing agreement with the government. A 99-year lease to was sold by the provincial government to 407 ETR International Incorporated for approximately 3.1 billion Canadian dollars in 1999. Highway 407 is believed to be the first financially successful privately-owned toll road in North America.

As part of a controversial plan to finance revenue for tax cuts, the highway was sold to a conglomerate of private companies in 1999 for $3.1 billion. The deal included an unprecedented 99-year lease agreement, unlimited control of the highway and its tolls, as well as a clause protecting the corporation from any competition, not the least of which includes a ban on construction of any nearby provincial highways that may reduce toll revenue.

From the 407 website:

We will continue to use revenue from tolls to pay for additional lanes, our daily Roadside Assistance Patrol, year-round road maintenance and police enforcement. Using revenue from tolls to improve the highway is a direct benefit to customers who choose to use 407 ETR.


If you're lucky, Jim, the highway will get sold to private companies. They don't lie when they say the revenue is for year round maintainence.

Stephanie

Grrrrrr yet another way to tax money out of motorists

Best way to go in this country is to have 3 kids before you're 20 then you're set up for life, even better if you're a single parent. Our government throw money at them but look for ways to screw money out of drivers

you can't say that, you might offend the giro loving, workshy scumbags. Plus it's not their fault, the government, the world, the education system, Jesus, McDonalds and you and I are all to blame. We should be ashamed.

Why, if they are genuinely trying to reduce the number of cars on the roads, do they not set up stricter driving tests to stop boy-racer twats clogging up the roads instead of, once again, targeting the less well-off members of society?............

......oh yeah - it's cos they wouldn't take yet more millions away from us that way would they!

Why are you such a cynic?

I for one believe the politicians when they tell me they are doing it for the good of the environment and as a result, my health :P

Well, you've gotta start questioning things when a ridiculous, over-bloated scheme that just happens to land the government with a multi-million pound revenue is suggested in favour of a simpler answer to the problem! Complicating issues further when simple solutions are rampant is what politics is all about though I guess!