Tamar Crossing tolls may be increased

[whole diary]

[Lee]

Drivers using the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint ferries this Christmas will get a seasonal bonus - no tolls (link below.)
http://thisisplymouth.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=133464&command=displayContent&sourceNode=133158&contentPK=19292362&folderPk=78031&pNodeId=133174

They will pass free through the toll booths on the bridge on Christmas Day, although they are asked to watch out for staff crossing the road as they do so.

On the ferries, tolls will be suspended from 8pm on Christmas Eve until 6am on Boxing Day.

[Chris from Nailsea]

The cost of crossing the Tamar Bridge could be hiked by 40 per cent, from 50p to 70p for concessionary users. Bridge bosses are urging Plymouth and Saltash residents to get involved in a concessionary crossing toll consultation process and voice their views on the proposed increase.

The Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Committee is looking at the possibility of increasing the TamarTag tolls across the bridge from 50p to 70p for every journey from January, next year - a 40 per cent rise. The committee is also looking at the possibility of increasing cash tolls in 2010.

See http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Plan-hike-bridge-tolls-40-cent/article-206264-detail/article.html

[eightf48544]

Are they going to use the extra money to double track the rail bridge?

[Lee]

Tolls for crossing the Tamar Bridge and using the Torpoint Ferry look set to rise by 50 per cent next year, it was revealed today (link below.)
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Tamar-crossing-tolls-50-cent/article-358198-detail/article.html

One-off cash fares will jump from ^1 to ^1.50 and concessionary users will be charged 75p rather than 50p from December 2009 at both crossings.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Drivers who cross the River Tamar from Cornwall into Devon may have to pay 50p more from next year.

The Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee has issued 25,000 leaflets to bridge and ferry users about the proposed toll increase.

The 50% rise, scheduled for December 2009, is the first cash toll rise since 1994 and will bring the cost to ^1.50.

The committee said many routine costs had increased year on year, often at a faster rate than inflation.

Discounted prepaid tolls will also rise from 50p to 75p.

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7731376.stm

[Naz Nomad]

Are they going to use the extra money to double track the rail bridge?

LOL^▸ (laughing out loud) !!

[Chris from Nailsea]

Town councillors in Cornwall want plans for a 50% increase in toll charges to cross the River Tamar to be reviewed.

At a meeting on Thursday night, Saltash Town Council recommended the 50% rise should be reviewed and should not be such a substantial increase.

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7739859.stm

For video report, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7740381.stm

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

An increase in bridge and ferry tolls enabling drivers to cross between Devon and Cornwall has come into force - with car drivers having to pay a 50% rise.
The increase in costs to use the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint ferries was approved by the government following a public inquiry in January.
Car drivers now have to pay ^1.50 - and regular users with a Tamar Tag are charged 75p instead of 50p.
The rises are the first since 1994 and also affect goods vehicles and coaches.
The crossings are jointly run by Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council through the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee.
The committee has said in the past that a rise was "essential" because without it the gap between income and spending was expected to be ^2.5m a year by 2011-12, as the routine costs of maintaining the crossings had increased. It also said that it recognised a price increase was "particularly unwelcome" but that a rise had been deferred "for as long as possible".
However, John McGoldrick, of the National Alliance Against Tolls, said he was disappointed that the toll increases were approved and then enforced with such speed. "Bridge users will be shocked that this whacking increase in tolls has been implemented so quickly," he said. "Those who realise that the cost of building the bridge was paid off many years ago, and that the tolls are now used to subsidise the losses on the ferry, will also feel that there is no justice in this system. It is long past the time that the bridge tolls were removed and traffic allowed to flow freely."

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

River Tamar bridge and ferry tolls 'may increase'

Tolls for the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry between Devon and Cornwall could increase because fewer people are using them, managers say.

The routes at Plymouth see about 50,000 vehicles using the bridge on an average weekday and 8,000 vehicles on the ferry during a busy weekday.

Manager said that traffic levels had dropped by about 5%, recently.

The toll for cars and vans is ^1.50, with larger vehicles charged more. Tolls last went up in March 2009.

No figures of how much tolls could increase by have been published.

Councillor Martin Leaves, of Conservative-led Plymouth City Council, who is also joint chairman of the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Committee, said it was "unclear why traffic volume had dropped".

"It could be because people are being more environmentally aware and not travelling, or maybe they are using the [further north] A30 instead," he said.

"If that gets any worse, we would have look at whether we should increase the tolls."

The committee, which is run by Plymouth City Council and Cornwall Council, said it was monitoring the situation before it decided on any rises.

When the tolls were last increased in 2009, they went up by 50%, from ^1 to ^1.50. It was the first rise since 1994.

[JayMac]

So. Usage is dropping and one of the reasons posited is that folk are using an alternative route instead. Solution:  Raise tolls. 

Why not lower them and see whether that brings folks back to using the Tamar crossings. Never know, might actually increase revenue.

[LiskeardRich]

what is FGW^▸ (First Great Western) growth between cornwall and plymouth looking like. I have a suspicion that a lot more people are using the train, or at least thats how it looks to me when i've gone by train recently

[Andy]

There's also the small matter of the economic crisis; the unemployed no longer travel to work across the bridge and others feeling the pinch may be making fewer trips or choosing alternative or public modes of transport.

[MrC]

Erm, surely if less traffic is using the bridge then wear and tear costs reduce as well? Sounds like they want their cake and to eat it as well.

[Btline]

The tolls should be axed. Fleeced motorists pay enough already. Let's get this economy moving again!

Same with the Severn Bridge Tolls, which are effectively a tax for entering Wales, suppressing growth and draining the local economy.

Then axe the M6 Toll and get the whole West Midlands moving again. It's scandalous that fuming motorists sit in long traffic queues, belching out fumes, whilst there are 6 empty lanes of traffic with the odd BMW whizzing past at 90mph.

Think how much house prices and the value of businesses would soar if the tolls were to go!

As for increasing the tolls - daylight robbery. An attempt to suffocate South East Cornwall and cut it off from the rest of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

Scotland can afford it, and the economic benefits would far outweigh the loss of revenue, most of which is profit and lines the pockets of the bridge companies.

[John R]

Then axe the M6 Toll and get the whole West Midlands moving again. It's scandalous that fuming motorists sit in long traffic queues, belching out fumes, whilst there are 6 empty lanes of traffic with the odd BMW whizzing past at 90mph.

But the company that built the motorway, under a legally binding contract, is entitled to collect the tolls. Unless the government buys it out, based on the future income that the Toll operator would be foregoing. That would (I'm guessing) cost billions. Hardly a priority in the current financial environment.

As it happens, the number of vehicles using the toll road has fallen by around 25% in the last five years, as Managed Motorway operation on the M6 around Brum has reduced delays on that route and thus made the toll road less attractive. It's fair to say that the investors in the road have probably lost money, which is probably why there isn't much talk of any further such ventures.