M6 Toll company in some difficulty. Shame.

[Deva Link]

IIRC there's less than half the originally projected number of vehicles using it, and the numbers are going down.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/may/14/m6-...

[davepoth]

I have to say I've never been massively inconvenienced by traffic on the M6. Building a motorway that goes between two places that already have a motorway seems a bit daft. Had they built a toll motorway through the middle of Norfolk up to Norwich, or down to Plymouth from Exeter, they may have had more luck.

[LukeSi]

Simple solution...









Remove speed limit.

[Hackney]

LukeSi said:

Simple solution...









Remove speed limit.

This. Then charge more if too many use it.

Or, keep current speed limit until enough cars use it to make it profitable.
It can't be that difficult to balance surely?

[pikey]

I'm not surprised.

I've been using this since it opened and it's simply too expensive. They seem to have been raising the prices every 6 - 9 months which only makes it worse and less people use it. It's ridiculously empty - and all the cars are luxury/premium. That should tell them something!

What they need to do is drop the price considerably - say to £1, and get the numbers in.

[lost in espace]

Its longer than the M6 isn't it? I never use it after getting charged £9 for a car and trailer, didn't spot the charge sign.

[wiffmaster]

There's so many unmarked police on there these days that you can't really go above 80mph. Which renders the whole thing pretty pointless, as you can do that speed on the regular M6.

[wiffmaster]

graphene said:

Oh... since when? Rich-pickings, probably.

I used to use it almost weekly a year or so back when commuting from London to Manchester. Invariably, I'd see cars pulled up on the hard shoulder by unmarked police. The police seemed to use lots of different cars as well (not just your typical dark blue Vectra) which made them all the harder to spot.

[joe_90]

Start cheap and as it loads up put up the price, as the number get thinner lower the price.

[powerstroke]

I never use it as it bypasses junction 10 and Ikea who do a great breakfast or meatballs if its later in the day when you're passing

[DJRC]

Wtf said they had never encountered traffic problems on the regular M6 through Brum??

Trust me, the M6 through Brum, from jnt 12 to 5 can knacker your day like the M25 round Heathrow only dreams of

[Bill Carr]

It's too expensive. Drop the price a couple of quid and you'll get more people using it, if that's what they want /need

[Super Slo Mo]

DJRC said:

Wtf said they had never encountered traffic problems on the regular M6 through Brum??

Trust me, the M6 through Brum, from jnt 12 to 5 can knacker your day like the M25 round Heathrow only dreams of

The hard shoulder running has made a huge difference though, I've found, although I do tend to get off at the M5 when heading South (and use the M40). At rush hour, the delay from 12 to 8 can be less than 30 minutes (over and above what it'd take on a clear run), which I think is reasonably acceptable, and a lot, lot less than it used to be.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

DJRC said:

Wtf said they had never encountered traffic problems on the regular M6 through Brum??

Trust me, the M6 through Brum, from jnt 12 to 5 can knacker your day like the M25 round Heathrow only dreams of

You're bloomin right it can. The speed limit thing is a good point though I seriously doubt they'd ever derestrict it unfortunatly.

As others have said, they need to lower the price to get the punters in & take it from there, it's not rocket science is it?

[Puggit]

Their cheaper off-peak hours are also a joke. 11pm-6am. If off peak was from 7pm in the evening they would generate far more revenue too.

[Jasandjules]

Good.

The more it is clear that "private" roads are not helpful the better IMHO.

[Deva Link]

Super Slo Mo said:

... although I do tend to get off at the M5 when heading South (and use the M40).

Same for me, and if I do use the Toll road then it can be a bit tricky to join the M42 and then it's stop/start to the M40.

Even though I'm on expenses I avoid using it unless it's peak time. Not dropping the price during the daytime off-peak hours seems ridiculous.

[uk_vette]

said:

I'm not surprised.

I've been using this since it opened and it's simply too expensive. They seem to have been raising the prices every 6 - 9 months which only makes it worse and less people use it. It's ridiculously empty - and all the cars are luxury/premium. That should tell them something!

What they need to do is drop the price considerably - say to £1, and get the numbers in.

.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Drop the price, even drop it to £2.00 and more people would use it thats for sure.
However, you now need to work out how much damage each car does to the road, and if £2.00 would put enough back into the pot for repairs.

£2.00 is an OK price.

Gra.

[GregE240]

The problem with the M6 Toll is that for about 20 hours of the day, there is a free alternative: its called the M6.

OK, so between about 0700 and 0900 and about 1600 and 1800 the M6 as DJ says, is awful between about J4a and 6, then from J8 until J10. Otherwise, you can keep the hammer down and be at least at 70mph, more so if you feel inclined.

Unlike the Dartford crossing, theres little point in the toll road, given the price. If it were say, £2 or £3, then there would be hundreds more cars on it. Sod freight - let the HGVs clog up the M6.

I can't see how its become so expensive to drive on it. Surely a lot of the costs are pretty much fixed, like wages for people to sit at the tolls? And you've got to have manned tolls regardless of the volume of traffic?

When it first opened it was great, and made my trips to Manchester and a long gig in Liverpool slightly less intolerable. Nowadays unless it was height of rush hour, I wouldn't bother.

[craigjm]

Didn't it start off at about £2 when it first opened?