Great Western Coffee Shop

Just seen that tolls are being removed from the Severn Bridges earlier than previously planned.

What do members expect to see in effects?

My parents. More often.

(They live in wales)

M4 traffic jams more often

M32 traffic jams more often. And similar in Cardiff.

Quite so.  The toll booths mean that the traffic on from there is spaced out to a degree.  The likely effect is that the westbound Brynglas Tunnel peak time queues will be back almost to Junction 23 instead of 24.   

In addition to which, it will mean more road traffic across the Severn generally, as some people switch from train or bus to car and some start making journeys they would otherwise have deemed not worthwhile.

Don't worry.

When the Welsh who have never visited Bristol belore and those paying a return visit have found they have to pick their way past open air dormitories of the street sleepers hostel, past occupied concrete bedrolls alongside concrete bedside cabinets the tops are which are cluttered with empty cans of what was the dormitories occupants last refreshment in a restricted area in which consumption of certain refreshments as those contained in the empty cans is prohibited demonstrates the bye-law is clearly not being monitored plus having to walk past further street dwellers requesting 'any change' for their next 4-pack purchase  and street buskers playing out of tune instruments those visitors from tother side of the Severn will say, "Visit Bristol, never again".

Its odd that one of the reasons for cancelling the expansion to the Mall@Cribbs was lack of traffic infrastructure, whilst this change should have been synchronised with a Park and Ride, with train access, in North Bristol.

I wonder whether commuters from Severn Tunnel Junction might switch to Severn Beach. It's probably a bit slower, but much much cheaper.  (It costs £42 a week from STJ plus £16 for parking), but only £9 from Severn Beach. (That seems very cheap - is it correct?). Especially once the new junction opens on the M49 next year.

Apart from being slower the services aren't as frequent, which might be a bit of a pain, but still, £47 a week is a lot to save.

But not much parking space at Severn Beach if any if I recall, have to look at google earth.

That's a good point, but there seems to be enough on street parking in the vicinity. There also seems to be a lot of space to put a car park if needed, although I suppose that would then need to be paid for, so would reduce the savings a bit.

I saw on the TV last night that "they"'re predicting a 23% growth in vehicle numbers over the bridge(s).  I wonder where this vehicles will come from / go to on each side of the river.

Porkway Parkway would have seemed like a possibility ... had it been open ... as it is, I expect quite a number will drive into Bristol, where the road system has plenty of spare capacity and the air is clean  ;D ... or will head for places like Bath, where again I'm sure they'll be looking forward to the extra business.

Yup, or £360 per year. Quite a bargain: https://travelwest.info/rail/severn-beach-line ...and, starting as you would be at the end of the line, you'd stand a fair chance of getting a seat in declassified First.

The Park and Ride bus from Portway is another option, although it costs more, and probably takes longer to get to, so makes the option less attractive, as the savings will be less and the over all journey time longer.

I think there's a little more to Bristol than that (and I speak as a Plymothian!). Unless you live in a bubble, you'll find similar scenes in all large cities (and not so large towns). People tend to understand that.

And when they've experienced the daily traffic congestion and gridlocked central area even on a Sunday, what then ?

…...I would hope they'd tread carefully to avoid falling down the holes left by the goalposts which you just moved!  :)

A sports pitsh usually has two goalposts.  ;D

To be fair to the good people who live in the vicinity Of Severn Beach ,yes there is a fair amount of on street parking which they use when going about their daily lives, in truth it gets very congested around the station ,and I for one would not like to see any more on street parking by rail users, not too mention the increase in passenger numbers which I wonder given its poor performance of late,the Beach could cope with.

Plenty of derelict railway land at The Beach for car parking though.

I get your point, but if people can save £49 a week then, human nature what it is,  appealing to their better nature not to clutter up your streets and trains is likely to fall on deaf ears don't you think?

Today is the first day of toll-free crossings of the Severn - and the Bristol Post has found a typically positive angle to report:


You gotta love 'em...

...and their grasp of the English language.

I have learned to be very careful when talking to journalists ... some are excellent but others look to make a story from nothing ...

...lucky for some.  The Tamar Bridge tolls are going up in the new year from £1.50 to £2.....

Another example of road transport getting cheaper or better, whilst trains become more expensive, and in many cases less satisfactory.

Think of all that extra traffic and all the fuel burnt, and climate changing emissions therefrom.

Now the bridge has been paid for the cost of maintenance is quoted at 6m a year, so about 25p per journey. So continuing to toll would effectively be a tax. It would be unfair to continue to place the burden of tolls on the welsh economy simply for environmental reasons whilst other regions enjoy free use of the motorway don't you think?


I agree that there is concern about increased traffic and how the roads will cope especially the Brynglas Tunnels. But the powers that be on both sides of the bridge have known for years that the bridge would be fully paid by about now, and (at least on the welsh side) all they have done so far is talk about a new road.


I can't see the problem with building a new M4 given the traffic on the existing one.  The environmentalists talk about it going over ecologically special land.  Really?  It's some mud flats south of where the steelworks once was, and if built there will still be more than enough mud on either side for the birds, newts, bats or whatever.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/m48-traffic-severn-bridge-toll-2511928