Thursday 17th July 2008

Pay-As-You-Drive Lanes To Beat Jams

Government planning extra £5 lanes to avoid congestion

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The Government is considering rolling out pay-as-you-drive lanes across England so that wealthier motorists can avoid jams. The so-called ‘Lexus Lanes’ would be around £5 a time to queue-jump congestion on motorways.

Transport secretary Ruth Kelly reportedly announced plans for the scheme yesterday which would involve widening large sections of motorways. For the plan to work the Government would have to build extra lanes or get allow drivers to use the hard shoulder.

Under the plans motorists would pay to use long stretches of the M1 from the Home Counties to the North, the M6 around Birmingham, the motorway network around Manchester, the M4 and M5 around Bristol, and the M27 and M3 near Southampton. The scheme could also include the M25 around London and the aim is to have the new lanes introduced by 2014.

Miss Kelly told MPs: 'Where we add new capacity either by using the hard-shoulder, or by widening roads, I am particularly interested to see what role tolled or car-share lanes could play to give motorists a more reliable journey.'

Tory critics called the plans a 'stealth taxes' by the back door. Tory transport spokesman Theresa Villiers said: 'The public do not want yet another tax on the motorist.'

[Official Slacker]

Oh right - is this why the VED is going up? Pay for the motorways to be widened, new signs etc?

And then you'll charge £5 a shot? Great little money maker there!!

Why not just make them HOV lanes (High Occupancy Vehicle) and let the people drive on it for free - would encourage people to car share and help the environment. .. . .

Oh wait, it's not the environment the gov wants to help save, they want to fill that dirty great big black hole in their budget. If they made them HOV’s then there would be less cars on the road, less people buying petrol (and paying the shocking tax on it), less people paying the inflated VED, and noone paying the £5 to drive on that extra lane!!

I’m feeling rather anti-government today!!

Edited by Official Slacker on Thursday 17th July 10:54

[DamoLLb]

I don't even believe in 'stealth' taxes as its is so blatent.I also think that there is enough people out there that can afford to pay a fiver for 'privaledged' lanes to become just as congested-when it comes to transport this government just misses everytime! Stealth Tax, ha, it should be called rest-your-nuts-on-this-chopping-board tax!

[DSM2]

Two points:

• They really are desperate for revenue if this is on a list of tax opportunities.

• Why are they bothered? By the time this started to bring in revenue, they will be long out of power.

[RFChris]

*scrtaches head*

Urm, what the hell are they playing at? Honestly, it's like they don't WANT to be in power anymore. So yesterday they announced they will freeze the duty on fuel for roughly 3.65 minutes, does that mean they have to introduce something else to upset us?

"Hmmm, we may well have won someone's confidence back with the fuel duty thing, bring in another tax to keep the hate levels brimming"

Muppetry, sheer muppetry.

Edited by RFChris on Thursday 17th July 11:31

[Gizmo!]

Official Slacker said:

Oh right - is this why the VED is going up? Pay for the motorways to be widened, new signs etc?

You seem to be under the impression that 'VED' is still 'road tax'. It isn't.

It's funny - yesterday they were saying that most congestion is in towns and cities and therefore the transport plan didn't include very many new/expanded trunk roads (not reported here on PH).

So now they're saying "oh, OK, you can have more roads but it'll cost you".

Assume this'll be done by ANPR cameras above the outside lane (has to be the outside lane, otherwise the trucks would all be paying it). However, what happens when traffic is flowing more freely in L2 (or L3 on a 4-laner)? You'd have to legalise undertaking. And if I'd chosen to take the outside lane, I'd have paid £5 to drive slower than the lane to my left. And believe me, if I've paid my money I'm not going to pull over even if I'm not overtaking. Oh, and someone driving 20 miles on the m-way pays 25p/mile; someone driving 200 miles pays 2.5p/mile.

So, as usual, it's a half-arsed, ill-thought-out, just plain unworkable suggestion. Woohoo!

Edited by Gizmo! on Thursday 17th July 11:49

[AngryS3Owner]

so they don't make enough money already from us to just fking winden the roads anyway. wrS

[BigMacca]

Sorry, but what a joke, I keep thinking 'That's the final nail in Labour's coffin', but they seem to have a bought a multipack and decided to use a gun instead, as it's quicker and easier...
Every week they're making motorists lives more miserable.

So, let me get this straight Miss Kelly; with the money you get from the VAT on my new car, plus the road useage tax, plus the VAT on the fuel, plus the duty on fuel, you're going to expand a motorway I don't even drive on, then charge me £5 for the pleasure of using the lane I've helped pay for? Think I'll be steering clear of that one thank you very much!

Anyway, supposed I'd best get back to work so I can pay those items off your John Lewis list...

Cheers,
BM

[jackwoodhead]

What happens to all the road car tax & fuel duty they collect, especially next year when most cars jump into to top bracket. If you are like me who has damaged wheels due to the bad roads it’s impossible to get them to pay for damage.
I think we should boycott any road charging as if we pay they will only come up with yet another tax.

[Fidgits]

£5 A TIME!!!!! rediculous...


and you just know, they are talking about opening the hard shoulder or widening the roads... but really they'll say it costs too much, or it'll kill a worm, so they'll just make you pay £5 to drive in the outside lane for a couple of miles!!!

[Big Rumbly]

Put the bd lanes in but dont charge us as we've allready paid for them Miss Kelly

[MIP1983]

I've read about scheme's in other countries where they put a temporary toll on new road until it's paid for itself.

That seems fair enough to me, charge people to use the new fast lane up until the point where it's paid for the cost of builing it.

[Gingerbread Man]

Article - build extra lanes or get allow drivers to use the...

[Fidgits]

MIP1983 said:

I've read about scheme's in other countries where they put a temporary toll on new road until it's paid for itself.

That seems fair enough to me, charge people to use the new fast lane up until the point where it's paid for the cost of builing it.

because this goverment is known for 'stopping an income stream'

[Fetchez la vache]

As stated already, if there was really an environmental agenda, there would be a HOV lane - seems to work pretty well in LA, but there is a barrier between it and the rest of the lanes to stop people swapping from one lane to another.

This is just another (not exactly stealthy) method of raising taxes. Even the greens are starting to winge at Labour now as "green policies" has gotten such a bad name as its been used as an umbrella for het more tax...

[Official Slacker]

Gizmo! said:

Official Slacker said:

Oh right - is this why the VED is going up? Pay for the motorways to be widened, new signs etc?

You seem to be under the impression that 'VED' is still 'road tax'. It isn't.

I am aware that the 'VED' is not road tax - but it's not as if the gov have a lot of money to splash around is it? Simple case of spend money to make money

[Kozy]

They can put them in, and I'll drive on them, but I'm not fking paying. Some little scrotes keep 'stealing' my number plates. Every day.

[ScoobieWRX]

They just keep banging those nails in don't they but then i think they are doing it all on purpose as they know they haven't got a fecking chance next election, and it's likely liberals would end up being the shadow party with Labour relegated to somewhere outside Parliament, hopefully somewhere in the Thames.

Whoever gets in next has got one heck of an uphill struggle and it will take fecking years to fix what labout have fecked up, that's if the next encumbents don't go and feck it up some more!!

Car share lanes haven't worked so what makes them think charging a fiver to use a VIP lane is going to work. Who the feck dreams up all these wonderful ideas??

FFS LABOUR GET OUT OF DODGE BEFORE YOU GET HUNG OUT!!

[Steameh]

News Piece said:

For the plan to work the Government would have to build extra lanes or get allow drivers to use the hard shoulder.

Sorry to be pedantic, but that doesn't seem to make sense.

Edited by Steameh on Thursday 17th July 12:12

[Phil Dicky]

RFChris said:

*scrtaches head*

Urm, what the hell are they playing at? Honestly, it's like they don't WANT to be in power anymore. So yesterday they announced they will freeze the duty on fuel for roughly 3.65 minutes, does that mean they have to introduce something else to upset us?

"Hmmm, we may well have won someone's confidence back with the fuel duty thing, bring in another tax to keep the hate levels brimming"

Muppetry, sheer muppetry.

Edited by RFChris on Thursday 17th July 11:31

I can only assume they know they are on the way out, so have agreed they will fk off as many people as possible before they go..its the only logical solution to their current crop of pathetic 'ideas'

[Gingerbread Man]

Steameh said:

News Piece said:

For the plan to work the Government would have to build extra lanes or get allow drivers to use the hard shoulder.

Sorry to be pedantic, but that doesn't seem to make sense.

Edited by Steameh on Thursday 17th July 12:12

I pointed out the same thing a few posts up.

9/10 of the news articles have spelling or grammar errors.