hedgehog

The Eastern Daily Press reports the following road charging may be introduced in their area within the next 5 years, enjoy:

Across the East of England, there are 12 key stretches of roads where
these tolls could be imposed. Charges of £1.30 a mile could be brought in on
the most seriously congested routes. They included the A47 between the A141 and A17 and some sections of the Norwich Southern Bypass; the A11 in the vicinity of the A47 junction at Norwich; and the A14 between M11 and All at Ipswich and eastbound approaching the M11.

AntiPastor

They wouldn't dare.

I pay my taxes and I never drive too fast in my Micra.

JohnCochrane

As long as they dinnae try an impose english rule on us wee scots I don't care for pish what they do.

hedgehog

It is from the East of England plan, which contains other frightening paragraphs such as:

"Maintenance must be coupled with management designed to make the best use of the infrastructure. This will include using a range of techniques (signalling, variable speed restrictions, information provision and other IT solutions). Such measures should be coupled with policies to manage demand (see policies T14 to T16) in order to give transport investments a chance to deliver real improvement rather than being swamped by increased demand."

And even:

"Safety improvements should be sought through eliminating or reducing sources of danger (especially traffic) rather than by further restricting the movement of pedestrians and cyclists. Control of speed of vehicles has potentially massive safety benefits (as well as the management role referred to under policy T14).

So, no real need to worry about the road charges as in the East of England you will not be allowed to use your car at all.

unclebuck

Don't you worry about all that, mate.

Apparently on this site 'birds with hairy lips' are far more of a worry. Very sad....

UB

hedgehog

Don't be too smug John, you should check out the Scottish Exec view on the matter here:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/Pla...nsportpla.aspx

It contains things such as:

"For individual travel, the general hierarchy of priorities should be:

walking: all of us choose to, or have to walk at some times; walking is an essential part of any public transport trip; as the most sustainable form of travel, capable of contributing significantly to reduction of pollution caused by short distance car trips;

cycling: a sustainable form of transport promoted through the National Cycling Strategy, capable of being used in conjunction with public transport for medium and longer distances, and capable of substituting for the car over shorter distances;

public transport: although less sustainable than foot or pedal power, able to carry large numbers of people efficiently and effectively, and dependent on quality of service can provide an alternative to the private car;

private cars: the integrated transport policy is not anti-car, but it assumes that cars, in appropriate circumstances, will no longer be allowed universal freedom of access. Within cities and larger towns, the amount of car travel will be reduced through other policy initiatives, e.g. the powers and duties conferred on local authorities by the Road Traffic Reduction Act 1997. Consideration should therefore be given to re-allocating road space to increased footway width, to cycle lanes, to dedicated public transport use, or in appropriate locations use by freight vehicles.

unclebuck

And who decides which are 'appropriate circumstances' I wonder?

Why, the 'party members' of course.

hedgehog

Derek Turner has outlined what "universal freedom of access" will mean when he highlighted that he didn't want private motorists on the motorway because they wasted space. So, I guess "appropriate circumstances" will be "under any circumstances where Derek Turner doesn't want you on the road."

Looks like the Scots are going to be walking along the ditch behind a donkey while the laird goes flashing past on the empty motorway on his way to a party conference. Nice of the Scottish Exec to force them back to the conditions they fought so hard to escape from under the rule of English landlords. Anyone for Highland Clearances II the Sequel?

JohnCochrane

A load of auld baws there hedgehog. The scottish exec is gannae do braw for the folk of scotland.

There's an auld saying

"Cò an caora sin còmhla riut a chunnaic mi an-raoir?"

Freak

£1.30 a mile?????????????????????????????????????????????

In ADDITION to road tax????????????????????

corradoboy

When will someone realise that it isn't that there are too many cars on the road, it's that there are too many people in the country. 1/7 the land mass of France with a bigger population, 3 times more people than Canada and 15 times more than New Zealand which has almost the same land mass as England. Why do we have such a large population ? 'Cos people pay tax ! More people = more tax. But isn't that a bit narrow minded ? More kids = more education needs, more people in general = more medical and welfare needs, much more crime and the obvious congestion. All of these drain money from our economy, whereas if we entered into a sustained policy of population reduction over the next 30 years to reduce our population by 1/3 it would be perfectly feasable to see full employment, a reduction in our national debt and a much, much more pleasant country to live in. I'm not condoning the Chinese policy of denying anyones right to children here, but if the state only offered financial support for the 1st child (or maybe even 2) then that would be a massive reduction in welfare payments almost immediately. The knock on effect would come when school numbers start to drop, again saving more money. Later there would be less unemployed, allied to less crime, both of which cost us billions. The transport system would benefit greatly, and at no cost whatsoever. No new roads to build, no fancy policies, stealth taxes, charging schemes; just less people able to go about their daily business in a much more efficeint and satisfying way.

Pure fantasy, I know; but is there any sense in what I say ??

hedgehog

Cha b'e sin caora, 'se sin mo chèile a bha innte.

With the highlands back to the stone age you'll be lucky to find a sheep.

Yeah, 1.30 per mile, on top of road tax and fuel tax. Actually £1.30 is one of the lower figures for areas where congestion has been managed into the system. I have seen it go as high as £1.45.

GC8

Will it be on a quiet April day?

DEEDEE

Nowt wrong with hairy lips, U.B.

Edmondo

Thats just gonna push the venicles into the towns and villages....I go to Norfolk 3 or 4 times a year and use most of the above roads....That'll mean to avoid that I would start to go thru Cambridge and Newmarket and then thru the Back roads to get to where I wanna go.....Kinda defeats the object of them building those huge bypasses 20 odd years ago.

hedgehog

Oh I don't think you will be driving in the towns, perhaps you missed the following that I posted further down the thread, it is from the East of England plan:

"Safety improvements should be sought through eliminating or reducing sources of danger (especially traffic) rather than by further restricting the movement of pedestrians and cyclists."

You, in your car, are the "source of danger" that is going to be eliminated. Mentioning that a bus is 10 times more likely to be in an accident with a pedestrian than your car will not be accepted in your defence.

The other catch you will encounter is that as the "congestion" moves (and remember we have established that this is often engineered into the road network to suit those wishing to enforce charges or drive us from our cars) so the congestion charging areas will move, or more likely be extended, until the whole area is covered with a road charge. At £1.30 per mile how many of us could afford to go to work?

speedking

Which public transport? Can't take bikes on trains, especially if there's three of you. Maybe we need a bike each at each end of the railway journey. Utter madness.

DJ73

sound's good to me corradoboy , don't know why people need 3-4-5 kid's , half the youngster's knock out kid's like battery hen's and let them run wild , a lot more parental care is needed

OllyK

Don't know which rail network you use, but cycles on Midland Mainline are normal practice.

speedking

Last time I tried in the Northwest they only allowed one or two bikes per train, you can't book, so if another cyclist is already on you can't use the train

Looks like things have changed:

Carrying Bikes on Trains
Most train services will allow cycles to be carried, so that you may start your cycle route some distance away. For example, from Chester, Crewe, Macclesfield or Wilmslow.
Cycles may be carried free of charge on Greater Manchester and Mersey Rail areas, provided there is space available on the train.
To check availability of this facility telephone either
Liverpool: 0151-236 7676
or Manchester: 0161-228 7811.
On main line Intercity and Regional Railways outside these areas, there is a charge of about £5.00 per cycle per single journey (subject to possible change - check for current prices), but these must be booked in advance at your local station.

3 x £5 x 2 = £30 for a return journey, which must be booked in advance, is not competitive with the car IMHO.

OllyK

I never claimed it was an economically viable alternative, just that you could do it.

Generally the train is a pretty poor option on all counts, including time to get to destination, unless it's a direct route.

speedking

Actually things haven't changed around here:

First North Western
Tel: 0870 241 2305

North West England and North Wales.

Local services:
Cycles are carried free of charge on all services at the discretion of the conductor (especially at peak times) but space is limited to two cycles per train on first come, first served basis. Groups of three or more must phone to enquire about availability.

OllyK

So trains are bobbins and are not really viable as a means of mass public transport - tell me something new, I did some contract work for Railtrack / Network Rail a while back and it's the same old culture as the BR days, spend money and cover your ***, don't worry about actually improving anything.

SirFozzalot

£1.30 a mile! So basically these "toll" roads will be reserved for the rich!