Wednesday 7th January 2004

Total Toll Disaster?

Are enough people going to use the M6 toll road?

---

Britain’s first major toll road - the new M6 - might be seen as the thin end of the wedge by transport planners but few motorists plan to use it, according to a new survey.

Most British motorists have no intention of using the new toll road, ever according to a survey by Autonational Rescue.

Fifty seven per cent of Britain’s motorists say they will never use the new pay-as-you-go motorway, which bypasses a 27-mile stretch of the M6 in the West Midlands, one of Europe’s busiest motorways, including Birmingham’s Spaghetti Junction.

37% of all motorists say they might use it “once in a blue moon” while only three per cent say they plan to use it once a month.

Practically no-one says they will use the new motorway once a week and absolutely no-one says they will use it once a day, not even in the West Midlands itself.

The only crumbs of toll-road comfort came from the West Midlands drivers themselves, where 6% said they would use the road once a month and 51% once in a blue moon.

But even in that key region, 42% said no, they would never use it.

Ronan Hart, marketing manager of Autonational Rescue who commissioned the driving omnibus survey of 1,000 motorists with Research Surveys of Great Britain, said: “Attitudes may change in the future, but UK motorists just aren’t happy to pay charges for using private motorways on top of the charges they already pay in road taxes .

Link: www.m6toll.co.uk/

[ian d]

i used it just before xmas when coming north, just to try it, it was ok, quiet, but i like many OBJECT in principle having to pay for something which SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUILT using ROAD FUND (TAX) money.

would i use it again: probably not