M6 toll getting a bit much!

[red_slr]

Took a trip darn sarf the other day and cost the best part of £12 to go on the toll there and back. That's really starting to get to the point of not being worth it. I just cant see how they can justify that level of cost for a car.

HGVs are only twice the price... that just does not make any sense to me.

[Shakermaker]

You don't have to pay it of course, and you can "run the gauntlet" with the M6 northbound through Birmingham if you want to.

[Rawwr]

They could charge £50 and still pay it to avoid the other option

[Nigel_O]

You could have done it for next to nothing

1 - buy a quick-start tag - £25
2 - register it and get another £5 credit
3 - use it twice - £12 (ish) = £18 credit remaining
4 - send the tag back, get a refund of credit, plus another £5 for the tag - total of £23 returned
5 - net spend = £2

I’m on my tenth tag......

[Yipper]

It's a fantastic bit of road. But was badly mismanaged. Despite the high toll fees, it has lost money for every year between 2003 and 2017.

[AJB88]

2 other options presuming you are heading down the M1?

1. Use the normal M6 > M1
2. Get of the M6 at JCT 16 > A500 > A50 > M1

I used to travel from Crewe to MK twice a week (before I moved to MK) and found option 2 was the best for me and only added about 2 miles onto the journey.

Quite often a mate of mine would set off at similar time who insisted on the M6 and arrive usually 20-25 mins later than me.

[red_slr]

Nigel_O said:

You could have done it for next to nothing

1 - buy a quick-start tag - £25
2 - register it and get another £5 credit
3 - use it twice - £12 (ish) = £18 credit remaining
4 - send the tag back, get a refund of credit, plus another £5 for the tag - total of £23 returned
5 - net spend = £2

I’m on my tenth tag......

Thanks for that as its a trip I make only a couple of times a year that's something I will look into.

[red_slr]

Shakermaker said:

You don't have to pay it of course, and you can "run the gauntlet" with the M6 northbound through Birmingham if you want to.

No I get that but as a tight northerner it pains me to spend more than a fiver on anything!
Its only £70 to do the whole trip on the train, sometimes closer to £50 if you can travel in quiet times.

[Armitage.Shanks]

Nigel_O said:

You could have done it for next to nothing

1 - buy a quick-start tag - £25
2 - register it and get another £5 credit
3 - use it twice - £12 (ish) = £18 credit remaining
4 - send the tag back, get a refund of credit, plus another £5 for the tag - total of £23 returned
5 - net spend = £2

I’m on my tenth tag......

Or if you're in a rush all the lanes are queueing and don't have a tag just cruise down the tag only lane and then use your card at the barrier like some knobheads keep doing in front of me

[PBDirector]

Yipper said:

It's a fantastic bit of road. But was badly mismanaged. Despite the high toll fees, it has lost money for every year between 2003 and 2017.

When you say it’s lost money each year do you mean it takes in less toll fees than it costs to staff and maintain, or does this include some repayment of an amortised construction cost?

[Taaaaang]

I took my 3 month old E46 M3 to the toll on the morning of its opening.

Thinking the probability of lots of police being about, and given I was the only car I could actually see, I Launch Controlled it from a booth to Vmax.

Was quite fun

[ashleyman]

Taaaaang said:

I took my 3 month old E46 M3 to the toll on the morning of its opening.

Thinking the probability of lots of police being about, and given I was the only car I could actually see, I Launch Controlled it from a booth to Vmax.

Was quite fun

The last time I visited the toll I also launched controlled from the booth!

[TR4man]

ashleyman said:

Taaaaang said:

I took my 3 month old E46 M3 to the toll on the morning of its opening.

Thinking the probability of lots of police being about, and given I was the only car I could actually see, I Launch Controlled it from a booth to Vmax.

Was quite fun

The last time I visited the toll I also launched controlled from the booth!

Virtually everybody does!

[King Herald]

I’ve used quite it a few times over the years and £5.50 for 25 miles of open road, skirting the farce that is Birmingham, is not a bad price.

Traffic volume seems to be increasing faster than they can improve/fix/enlarge the UK road systems.

[King Herald]

Nigel_O said:

You could have done it for next to nothing...


...I’m on my tenth tag......

Excellent. So when they put the prices up because they are not making money we know who to blame.

[red_slr]

Part of the problem is they are too rigid with pricing.

For example I can come down from the north and come off at T6 and then pay about £4.

If I get back on at T6 and go north its £5.90.

They need to charge per junction both ways for starters.

Then they need to reduce the night time fee to at least 50% discount.

The problem is they are not interested in reducing congestion on the M6 they are only interested in profits and forcing people to pay up during peak times and then let the road sit there empty off peak with no W&T etc as they already fleeced as may as they could at peak.

IIRC the govt can invoke a bit of legislation which says they have to open it up for free, I think they should do this as a trial for a week and see what happens...

[Gareth1974]

I live in Lichfield, so around half way along the M6 Toll, and commute each day (on shifts so off-peak) to Rugby. Time saving for me is in the region of 5 mins each way if I use the Toll, so difficult to justify with the present pricing structure, but I'd contemplate an off-peak 'season ticket' type if they ever offered one at a decent price.

[King Herald]

red_slr said:

The problem is they are not interested in reducing congestion on the M6 they are only interested in profits and forcing people to pay up during peak times and then let the road sit there empty off peak with no W&T etc as they already fleeced as may as they could at peak.

IIRC the govt can invoke a bit of legislation which says they have to open it up for free, I think they should do this as a trial for a week and see what happens...

It is a totally private enterprise, built like that because the public refused to pay for a road that they would then have to pay to use. So it is essentially a money making venture, not particularly designed to ease congestion, but to make profit. If it were cheaper more people would use it, but then maintenance would increase.

I assume clever people have written complicated algorithms to calculate the max possible price to gouge drivers with, yet maintain maximum profits long term.

Don’t worry, after 50 years use the government gets it back, so it may be free then.

[glenrobbo]

King Herald said:

It is a totally private enterprise, built like that because the public refused to pay for a road that they would then have to pay to use. So it is essentially a money making venture, not particularly designed to ease congestion, but to make profit. If it were cheaper more people would use it, but then maintenance would increase.

I assume clever people have written complicated algorithms to calculate the max possible price to gouge drivers with, yet maintain maximum profits long term.

Don’t worry, after 50 years use the government gets it back, so it may be free then.

Yeah; just like they promised the Dartford bridge would be toll-free after costs of construction had been recouped. Now we pay tolls to a french company...

[berlintaxi]

TR4man said:

ashleyman said:

Taaaaang said:

I took my 3 month old E46 M3 to the toll on the morning of its opening.

Thinking the probability of lots of police being about, and given I was the only car I could actually see, I Launch Controlled it from a booth to Vmax.

Was quite fun

The last time I visited the toll I also launched controlled from the booth!

Virtually everybody does!

That's the point of the barriers ain't it?