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TOLLS NEWS, CONGESTION CHARGE NEWS, ROAD PRICING NEWS

MPs today again demonstrated that they don't inhabit the same world as the rest of us. They have passed into law a Private Member's Bill - "Green Energy (Definition and Promotion)", though the Government seemed to have talked out (at least for now) another Private Member's Bill -"Industrial Carbon Emissions (Targets)".

Pushing for more tolls

Sydney Morning Herald - "More cars on road as Treasury weighs congestion charges".

A timely reminder

This report is over three years old, but for some reason has reappeared as a report created today. Whatever the reason, it show that "Prudence" was wise to shun these "investments" - Intelligent Investor - "Prudence says no to infrastructure".

USA Roundup

Other stories - Colorado - "E-470 goes cash-free, but expect a bill"   West Virginia - "Another Toll Road Could Be In The Future For Two West Virginia Counties"   New Jersey - "Amid criticism, ground broken for N.J. Turnpike widening"   New Jersey - "$2.7B N.J. Turnpike widening project begins"   Massachusetts - "Is a future toll hike inevitable?"   Texas - "On overdue tollway bills ...".

Prayer for tolls to go away - far away

Express Buzz - "Petition to exempt local vehicles from toll fees".

Hanoi to close toll free route into city

Thanhnien News - "Transport firms bemoan new toll placemen".

Global Warming makes men go bald

We must admit that we made that headline up, but British scientists are capable of linking anything to the new established church - BBC - "Climate change is shrinking sheep".

Bit more on unpaid c-charges

BBC - "C-charge dodgers owe London £94m".


Thursday 2 July 2009

Trams / RBS man takes over Forth bridge

Edinburgh Evening News - "Ex-trams chief crosses to bridge role". The Forth bridge Authority is a classic example of the way Britons make bad compromises. The soon to be ex boss and the new boss of the now tolls free bridge were supporters of a tolls regime. Why can't the Scottish Government just take over?

USA Roundup

Other stories - Pennsylvania - "Fewer will travel, fewer will drive, even fewer will fly this Fourth of July".
Rhode Island - "Cost of crossing Pell, Mt. Hope bridges might climb"   Rhode Island - "Tolls could rise for Pell Bridge" video   California - "Coronado’s mayor on the economy, education and ‘inconveniences’".

Threats

The Telegraph also had this editorial following the problems with the East coast rail franchise - "No way to run a railway". Reading between the "lines" this implies support for tolls and road pricing. A hint of things to come with a Tory Government?


Wednesday 1 July 2009

USA Roundup

Other stories - West Virginia- "Turnpike Tolls to Go Up" inc video   Indiana - "Daniels is open to tolls for bridges".
Maryland - "MdTA's new E-ZPass charges begin today"   West Virginia - "Toll Hike Vote Happens this Morning."   West Virginia - "Turnpike toll increase to be decided today in Charleston"   West Virginia - "State could take lesson from Ky. tolls" letter   Texas - "Left unpaid, road tolls grow {ndash} and fast"   Texas - "Cash no longer accepted for Bush Turnpike tolls".
DC / Virginia - "Airports Authority Implements First Toll Road Increases Next Year"   California - "Toll lanes on the 91 will cost a bit more starting today"   Massachusetts - "Mass Turnpike negotiates swap accord with UBS"   Texas - "Perry's transportation Band-Aids".

The Con exempt car that only TfL bosses, MPs and bankers can afford

GQMagazine - "Tesla Motors London flagship store". Though the ideal buyers for this car are BBC bosses as they can be "green" and are spared the embarrassment when the public learns that their con charges come out of expenses.

Two million show the way

Evening Standard - "Cheats rack up £200m unpaid C-charge fines".

Assurance from Gordon on Humber tolls

Grimsby Telegraph - "Prime Minister: 'We'll consider all aspects of toll debate'"   Scunthorpe Telegraph - "PM: Decision on bridge tolls rise soon".

Israel goes back on tolls plan

Haaretz - "No tolls to be levied on southern sections of Trans-Israel Highway ".

Hauliers going soft?

Roadtransport.com - "Investment in roads is 'vital'". The RHA say they "would support a degree of road pricing, if it resulted in a particular road getting built". And the FTA say "A blanket 'no to road pricing' could be a real missed opportunity". As the Government already takes fifty billiob punds a yaer from roads users it must be relieved thatthe hauliers are either innumerate or profligate.

Aerie Faerie Tale

BBC - "Wind 'can revolutionise UK power'".

Government takes over rail franchise

BBC - "National Express loses rail route". A strange tale as rail travel (partly due to subsidies) was booming.

Thinking in the round

BBC - "Improvements 'move M2 congestion'". The lesson from this is not that road improvements are a waste of time, it is that the road network is just that - a network - and where there is a problem you have to consider the wider picture, as illustrated by the "road network paradox" - Wikipedia.


Tuesday 30 June 2009

Volvo complains about illogical favouring of hybrids

Volvo - "Volvo Car UK Challenges The Mayor Of London To Emissions Equality".

Inflating

Guardian - "House prices rise in June"   Guardian - "UK house prices: a regional breakdown".
This is good news for MPs with second homes and for the many with negative equity, but it confirms that fundamentally Britain is a country ruled by a central bank that favours borrowers and consumers over savers and producers. How long can such a system last?

Shrinking

BBC - "UK economy sees 2.4% contraction"   Reuters - "GDP posts biggest fall in 50 years".
The official figures show that manufacturing is the hardest hit - ONS - "Quarterly national accounts - 1st quarter 2009" pdf.
Unlike Alice, Britain can't scoff some "eat me" cakes to grow again, and any attempts to do so will make things worse in the long run. What we need is people that are usefully occupied providing goods and sevices that people want at a price that they can afford. We could make a start by finding real jobs for toll collectors!

USA Roundup

Other reports - "Marylanders Find E-ZPass Not So Easy"   New Jersey - "Atlantic City Expressway authority considers going cash-free, but drivers will still pay the toll"   California - "Most toll road drivers will be paying more starting in July"   West Virginia - "Decision Day".
New Hampshire - "Tolls going up"   West Virginia - "Turnpike tension"   New Jersey / New York - "DeCroce And Rooney Assail New York MTA Toll Hikes".

White Van rule threatened

BBC - "UK orders 'white van man' study". The Government has asked the "Commission for Integrated Transport" to do this "study". The CfIT are the main establishment Quango for the anti roads users lobby, so will the plan be that all white vans will be replaced with rickshaws driven by bicycles?

Humber tolls increase still not rubber stamped

Scunthorpe Telegraph - "Councillor welcomes bridge tolls delay".

Selling the Cambridge Con plans

Cambridge News - "Bid for second city bus station". (The council's "transport advisers" - Steer Davies Gleave - are the leading tolls consultants, and the "Cambridgeshire Transport Commission" are the same people who last year recommended road tolls in Reading.)


Monday 29 June 2009

USA Roundup - later stories

Massachusetts - "Turnpike board rescinds toll hike" lot of comments.

New tags for new Singapore cars

Straits Times - "New ERP readers for cars".

Letter to PM from Dartford tolls user

At the end of March (see 26 March news) the PM's office responded to the petition for the Dartford tolls to be scrapped. Here is one driver's letter back to the PM, which was later copied to us - " With regard to your response to the Scrap the Dartford crossing toll booths petition. I have done some further research with regard to your answers and found that as we all know they are completely without foundation and would be proven to be so if you were to actually do any proper ( unbiased ) research yourselves.

You seem to base your answer regarding flow rates through the tunnel upon the supposition that you would retain the toll booths and barriers, how ridiculous.

Firstly by removing just the barriers vehicles will be able to maintain a reasonable speed along the A282 which would mean less need for braking and acceleration which causes unneccessary pollution.

By removing the toll plaza altogether, it would mean there is no need to slow down and accelerate at all, this would also remove the need for staffing of said booths reducing the 'maintenance' cost of the crossing. As any remotely aware person can see on any day of the week at anytime the M25 motorway (either side of the Dartford crossing away from the congestion caused by the crossing ) will flow at a reasonable rate, only coming to a grinding halt once within the crossing area, unfortunately at peak times this can stretch to many miles.

Curiously enough all of the traffic in the area is confined to the 'approach' to the toll booths not on the other side ( what might this tell us ).

There is also the problems of accidents, which are mostly caused by people not realising vehicles in front have had to stop because of the toll booths,also the amount of stress inflicted on anyone who has to use the crossing daily as I do.

In your response to the petition you said - "To say congestion is largely due to the effect of the toll booths is incorrect. For much of the day the Crossing is operating at or above its capacity. The tunnels could not handle any more traffic than the toll plaza can process."

I am sorry but I find this answer utterly comical and bordering on insulting to the many people that signed the petition.
Firstly, the toll booths are of course entirely responsible for the congestion in the area.
Secondly, the reason that the crossing is operating at maximum capacity is that the toll booths spread what was 3/4 lanes of free flowing vehicles out to 14 lanes of stationary vehicles then expect them to all accelerate together into 4 lanes of tunnel within 100 metres, have you ever poured a bucket full of water through a small funnel and wondered why it spills over the top. I am sure you will agree that were you to remove the toll plaza altogether ( not just the barriers ) and make the approach to the tunnel 4 lanes only then you will no longer accentuate this bottleneck, (excluding accidents), before and after the toll booths the motorway flows perfectly well in this configuration. This would also remove the traffic which builds up along the A13 in both directions approaching the crossing.

P.S. Widening the M25 from junction 27 to the toll booths will serve only one purpose - spending a fortune in taxpayers money, when if you just removed the toll plazas it will save all that waste." USA Roundup

Sundry stories - West Virginia - "Historic toll increase coming on turnpike"   Massachusetts - "Locals join Pike lawsuit".

Refinery strike officially over

BBC - "Vote ends refinery worker strike".

The gold plated bridge

Courier - "Tender process opens for new Forth bridge".


Sunday 28 June 2009

A bridge tale too far

More disinformation from Scotland's troll establishment - Sunday Herald - "Revealed: deception over new Forth bridge".
The reality is that the removal of tolls has eased traffic flows, but has had little effect on traffic numbers, particularly in the peak periods. This is what we predicted but the establishment have done their best to hide it and even made false claims about increased congestion due to the removal of tolls. Bizzarely it was the trolls who bounced the Scottish Government into agreeing to build a second bridge and who are responsible for it being accepted that the bridge will cost several times more than it neeeds to. What Scotland needs is a real revolution with all these malign influences removed from power.
The inflated cost of a new bridge (Powerpoint presentation - large file).


Saturday 27 June 2009

USA Roundup

Sundry stories - New Hampshire - "Hampton toll increase goes into effect Wed."   New Hampshire - "Take the $2 toll test" letter   New York - "MTA fare, toll hikes set to kick in on Sunday"   Oregon / Washington State - "Public input needed for I-5 bridge tolls"   Land Line Mag - "Kentucky lawmakers approve bridge-authority plan, toll option".
New York - "E-ZPASS TROUBLES CONTINUE"   California - "Express Lanes Coming To Our County"   Texas - "Special session may not be enough to keep road projects going"   Texas - "Tarrant toll road moving forward after payout concerns"   West Virginia - "W.Va. Turnpike"   "North Texas Tollway Authority cracking down on non-paying drivers"   DC / Virginia - "Toll Road Rates Proposed To Double"   West Virginia - "W.Va. lawmaker blasts toll hike meeting".

Don't be fooled

An impression is being given that the recent comments from Lord Adonis of Rail maens that road pricing is dead. There is also an impression being given that road pricing is a Labour / EU plot and that if Labour lose the next election, there will be no road tolls. Both of these impressions are wrong.
Road pricing is a very long term project. Whatever the parties say and whoever forms the next Government, this project will continue to move forward driven by civil servants, local officials and the trolls lobby. Politicians know that drivers behave as if they were emascaulated - they can be harrassed, spied on, put into virtual straitjackets and milked for more money.
The milking part of this process will be done in small steps - such as tolling the new and existing bridges at Runcorn, tolls on other free crossings, the introduction of more "congestion charges" and the tolling of some lanes or even all lanes on motorways - one at a time, starting with those they say are most congested.
The lack of interest from drivers until they are directly affected means that they can pick us off one by one. The Tory opposition to Labour plans and in particular to the Local Transport Act 2008 was so weak and feeble, there can be no doubt that they intend to use these powers themselves.
PS Tory position on Reading TIF - Get Reading - "Tories wage war on congestion charging".

Another hearing on Cambridge Con plans

Cambridge News - "Answers needed on traffic plans".


Friday 26 June 2009

Scottish trolls rise from the dead

Reform Scotland - "Transport Super Hub is 'Big Plan' key to Scotland's economic growth" (Reform Scotland seems to have a large input from the hugely successful Scottish finance industry.).

"Time for Government to face facts, and release the cash"

Birmingham Post.

Some old news

Daily Express - "Pay-As-You-Drive Charges Reprieve"   Daily Mail - "Pay-as-you-drive scheme shelved: Labour backtracks after 1.7m sign petition".
PS Reaction from Peter Roberts - Shropshire Star - "Champion claims road tolls victory".

Britain leads the way in mad delusion

BBC - "Brown proposes £60bn climate fund"   BBC - "UK to outline emission cut plans".

The lid lifts a little on the life style of our rulers

We wonder if as Rome declined the highest earnings went to those who organised the entertainment for the masses?   Independent - "BBC laid low by tales of state-funded high life"   Mirror - "BBC bosses spent almost £400k of tax payers' money on luxuries"   BBC - "Top BBC bosses' expenses revealed".
PS Among other perks, bosses got their tolls and congestion charges paid for them!!


Thursday 25 June 2009

Down the slippery road

Today was the last day of an Inquiry being held near Liverpool into a proposal which includes the first ever toll on a free bridge, though from the degree of local and national interest, you would think that all of this was happening in Wonderland ("Lewis Carrol" was born nearby in the parsonage at Daresbury) - BBC - "Mersey crossing inquiry finishes". Our main page on this.


Wednesday 24 June 2009

Britain's downs and downs

BBC - "Bank chief wants to cut borrowing"   BBC - "UK economy 'set to shrink faster'".
As bankers are rumoured to be one of Britain's best customers for "recreational drugs" is this story good or bad news?   BBC - "UK is 'Europe's largest cocaine market'".

Congestion not new

Anyone who has seen old photos of city centres in the late 1800s will know that congestion in cities existed before the internal combustion engine, but here is some confirmation - Manchester University - "Cartographic treasures show little change in city life - A unique collection of rare Manchester maps reveals how worries about congestion and binge drinking were just as prevalent 100-years-ago as they are today".

USA Roundup

Sundry stories - DC / Virginia - "Airports Authority proposes toll increase"   Michigan - "Editorial: Higher state gas tax is in our future"   West Virginia - "Site of turnpike toll vote another frustration for deep south counties"   DC / Virginia - "Costs on Dulles Toll Road likely to rise".
Alaska - "Our view: No bridge"   Pennsylvania - "New land use laws, more transit use, tolls would cut Route 422 traffic in Berks and region, planners say"   Pennsylvania - "Tolls May Be Placed To Pay For Rail Line"   Texas - "NTTA may soon raise tolls"   West Virginia - "Toll hike - Trucker warns authority on toll hike"   Massachusetts - "Toll hike tops agenda for Pike meeting tomorrow".

Les Misérables

Surrey Leader (British Columbia) - "'Commoners' pay for bridges"   Aldergrove Star (British Columbia) - "Vehicle-use taxes for TransLink favoured".


Tuesday 23 June 2009

Prince Charles of Green and his Two Million Pound Plane and Train Season ticket

BBC - "Public funds for Charles top £3m". An amazing figure particularly as according to the Prince's website his expenditure is "the variable costs only for journeys undertaken using 32 Squadron, The Queen’s helicopter and the Royal Train. This is because the fixed-wing aircraft and train costs are incurred irrespective of whether they are used and do not result from undertaking specific journeys."

Navy Lark steering from the Old Lady

BofE News release - "Inflation Targeting: Learning the lessons from the financial crisis" pdf   full speech (pdf).

USA Roundup

Sundry stories - Oregon / Washington State - "Public input sought on I-5 bridge tolls tonight, next week"   Wyoming - "Residents comment on I-80 tolling study"   Massachusetts - "Fast lane slowdown en route?"   North Carolina - "Toll roads for Mecklenburg interstates?" a few comments   Illinois - "Grandfather has trouble getting money back from tollway"   Florida - "Grayson assails Crotty, Webster; demands repeal of expressway toll increase".

Irish toll joy

Independent - "M50 toll collectors pushing the envelope".


Monday 22 June 2009

Money for sitting pretty

BBC - "RBS boss set for £9.6m pay deal". Does he get this for not bankrupting the bank?

Lord Rail rules out road pricing

Sunday Times - "Lord Adonis sees demise of short flights".

USA Roundup

Other stories - Wyoming - "More answers about I-80 tolls are on the way"   Wyoming - "Toll roads wrong for Wyo" letter   Massachusetts - "No toll increases on the Mass. Pike" video.

Tolls fight

Daily Star - "Mayhem over illegal toll at Buriganga Bridge-2".


Saturday 20 June 2009

Good story, pity about the arithmetic

Telegraph - "British motorists pay £250m tax every week". The headline writer apparently thinks that £50 billion a year is £250 million a week. A good job that they are not working out MP's expense claims!
It also seems strange that the Telegraph thinks that there are "50 million car users (who) are adults with voting cards", this would mean that the voting age had been reduced to sixteen years old and that they all "used" a car.

USA Roundup

Other story - Oregon / Washington State - "Crossing project invites public to talk about bridge".


Friday 19 June 2009

Two messages from the guys that print the money

The printing press is still working well with Broad money supply (M4) up 16.6% year on year (though the rate of increase is falling) - Provisional estimates of broad money (M4) and credit (M4 lending) May 2009.

USA Roundup

Sundry stories - "Reverberations from Wyoming's proposed I-80 toll felt in South Dakota"   West Virginia - "Toll vote moved to Charleston"   West Virginia- "Wonder where turnpike tolls go?"   Wyoming - "Wyo. may start charging tolls to drive on I-80".

MPs to hear more "evidence" on roads

Transport Cttee - "Major road networks - Wednesday 24 June at 2.45pm". (Watchable live or later on the link on that page.)

Fill up your tank time?

BBC - "Oil plant sackings spark walkouts".

Car manufacture still down

BBC - "UK car production drops sharply". As usual the BBC fails to point out that most cars sold in Britain are imported and that most cars made here are exported - SMMT - "May UK vehicle production figures".

Discrimination

Daily Echo - "Itchen Bridge token change prompts complaints about discrimination".

It's dearer by train

BBC - "Public money 'wasted on railways'"   RAC Foundation- "Road V Rail - Is Government On The Money?" inc links to full report & summary.
It's not often that we have the same views as the RAC Foundation, though it is not just a question of having a more level playing field between heavily subsidised railways and heavily taxed roads. We need to look at how we reduce the amount of time, money and energy spent on travel. A good start would be to stop population growth.
The question of whether a route should be a road or a railway, was raised about fifty years ago by the 'Railway Conversion League'. The League are long gone, but Transport Watch UK is on similar 'lines'.


Thursday 18 June 2009

USA Roundup

Sundry stories - Texas - "Toll Troubles in Dallas"   Georgia - "Should we privatize toll roads? NO: Loss of planning control, hidden fees would hurt state"   Georgia - "Should we privatize toll roads? NO: Loss of planning control, hidden fees would hurt state"   Wyoming - "WyDOT: $116 is I-80 toll threshold for trucks"   Texas - "Who Will Deliver the Coup de Grace to the Trinity toll road, the Corps or NTTA?".
Florida - "Toll agency borrowed $1 billion at variable interest rates -- that are now soaring"   Land Line Mag - "Nevada bill setting guidelines for toll roads dies"   New Jersey - "Doubt cast on funding for new tunnel"   California - "Marin Conservation League's worries about HOT lanes"   West Virginia - "Senate minority leader blasts tolls".

Fight over who builds new toll bridge

WSJ - "Dispute Stalls Plan for Canada Crossing"   Examiner - "Want to buy a bridge?".

It pays to have a flag on your bonnet

24Dash - "Diplomats 'owe £27m in unpaid congestion charge and parking fines'".

MPs come "clean"

BBC - "MPs' expenses made public online". As much of the details have been censored, the only way that the public know how MPs have been making as much as they can, is thanks to the Daily Telegraph.
According to the 'Green Book' MPs "cannot claim for ... Congestion charges, tolls, and car parking (An allowance for these is included in the car mileage rates.)" Though it seems that this may not be the case in practice as one MP is reported to have claimed £211 for congestion charge in November 2007 - Manchester Evening News - "Graham Brady's milk frother".

Forth bridge

Dunfermline Press - "Bridge bosses have £7 million aside despite loss of tolls cash".

Manchester anti road toll campaigner warns Cambridge about spin

Cambridge News - "Warning of 'spin' over congestion charge bid".

Politicians complain about bridge toll costs if depot moves to England

Wales Online - "Tesco staff fear pay cut if depot moves from Wales". What a pity the politicans have done nothing to get this border toll barrier removed.

Bosses push tolls at "low carbon" conference on 8 June

Fleet News - "Business group calls for fiscal incentives".
Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership site. To join members have to sign that they believe "1. Climate change is an urgent problem requiring greenhouse gas emissions to be substantially reduced ... 2. Road transport is an important source of greenhouse gas emissions and must make a significant contribution to reducing its emissions..."

More dark "science"

Wiped out by the cold or the heat, or by man? BBC - "Mammoths survived late in Britain".
PS Hilary Benn tells MPs that it is getting hotter and wetter and drier - BBC - "UK 'must plan' for warmer future".


Wednesday 17 June 2009

A blue Blue Future?

Thanks to Brian, for pointing out that David seems to think one cut he can make is making the overtaxed roads users pay even more - "We need to look at toll roads, otherwise the roads won't be built" - Norwich Evening News - "Whistle-stop trip to city for Cameron".
Brian has also pointed out what the Tory Shadow Transport minister has been saying at a conference. It seems that the Tories will not risk putting tolls on existing roads but believe that "motorists might welcome tolls as an alternative to traffic jams" through measures such as toll lanes on main roads.

More on Euro Toll threat

Guardian - "EU eyes more road tolls to curb transport emissions"   EU Observer - "EU 10-year transport plan lacks green content".

New toll bridge now open to traffic for a free ride

BC Local - "Bridge vehicle traffic much lighter than at official opening"   CBC - "Golden Ears Bridge opens with light traffic on 1st day".

Latest bulletin from Inflation Inc

B of E - "Minutes Of The Monetary Policy Committee Meeting 3 And 4 June 2009".


Tuesday 16 June 2009

Spy satellite boost

BBC - "Contracts give impetus to Galileo".

Real demand?

BBC - "Move to reinstate lost rail lines".
Railways receive massive subsidies, while roads users are massively over taxed. If there was a more level playing field then there would be less demand for trains and to some extent less demand for travel overall. Instead of more rail lines, it would be better economics to convert abandoned rail lines to long distance roads.


Monday 15 June 2009

New toll bridge congested - with pedestrians

Vancouver Sun - "Pedestrian traffic jams Golden Ears Bridge for opening celebration".

Cyclists want Con

Cambridge News - "Cycle group raps commerce leader".
Cyclists are the Kamikaze fanatics of congestion charging. Though if their ultimate aim is to force everyone else off the road (and the pavement) then who will be left to pay for their free ride?


Thursday 11 June 2009

Public attitudes to Inflation and interest rates

Bank of England News Release - "GfK NOP Inflation Attitudes Survey".

More on Cambridge row

Cambridge News - "Congestion charge proviso 'misleading'".

Transport Lord to "rubber stamp" tolls increase

Hull Daily Mail - "Decision on tolls 'by end of July'"   Grimsby Telegraph - "Bridge board calls for urgent meeting with Government".

Kings of the Road

Evening Standard - "Why London needs my new Highway Code".


Wednesday 10 June 2009

Looking on the bright side

BBC - "UK output sees surprise increase". As usual the news media are peddling a false picure. Output was indeed slightly higher in April than March, but buried in the ONS release it says that - "Manufacturing output in the latest three months was 13.2 per cent lower than the same period a year ago." - ONS - "Index of production April 2009" pdf.

"Road particles pose 'higher risk'"

BBC. Unlike CO2, PM10s are a real and nasty pollutant, but stories like this one are used by the anti car brigade as another excuse to punish car drivers though they are responsible for only a small proportion of PM10s - our "Air Quality section.

Underground strike

Times - "Underground strike could cause two days of chaos". The Congestion charge is not being suspended "because it was needed to keep roads clear for buses". Really? We agree that there is no particular reason to suspend it because of the Tube strike, but the fact is that the c-charge makes no difference to congestion. If more people drove into the centre of London, where would they all park?


Tuesday 9 June 2009

More on Toll fun begins

Inside Costa Rica - "Transport Minister Asks For Reduction On Santa Ana Tolls".

Cambridge Companies want to put Con Charge plan in the trash can

Cambridge News - "It's critical".

USA Roundup

Sundry stories - Oregon / Washington State - "Money crunch could derail I-5 bridge".
New Hampshire - "New road plan? Let's slow down"   Florida - "Outer beltway: Clearing the path"   New Hampshire - "Lynch's toll scheme: Remember the Big Dig?"   Washington State - "Express toll lane meeting Tuesday".


Monday 8 June 2009

Cambridge Con Con

Cambs24 - "Traders' Boss Alleges Council Officers "Misled The Public"".

Further news Cambs24 - "Council Chief Hits Back At Chamber Claims Over Congestion Charge Plans".

PS More Cambridge toll Commission hearings - Cambridge News - "Raise your voice on transport problems".

Toll fun begins

Inside Costa Rica - "Long Lines Back At Escazú Tolls".

Bank tricks

Fresh blood pumped into the corpse - B of E News Release - "Asset Purchase Facility: Secured Commercial Paper".

London's Congestion Charging and "Traffic Enforcement" consultants cost Five Million a year

BBC - "TfL consultants 'cost millions'".

USA Roundup

Sundry stories - California - "It is going to cost you more to drive on some toll roads".

Whitchurch Toll Inquiry

Henley Standard - "Inspector hears evidence on bridge toll rise"   Newbury Weekly News - "David and Goliath battle over Whitchurch Bridge toll". The objectors' evidence - "TollFreeze Statement to the Inquiry".

No "road pricing" money, sob, sob

Guardian - "Road safety, bus and cycle schemes under threat from transport budget cuts".
It is worrying that the trolls are still alive and kicking. It is also worrying that despite taking fifty billion pounds a year from drivers, the Government plans to cut the measly anmount it ploughs back into the road system.

British Leyland vans reach the end of the road

BBC - "Vanmaker LDV faces administration".

Toll on tolls

BBC - "Bridge toll inquiry costs £50,000". There was no urgency for a tolls increase and the Government is supposed to be considering calls for the tolls to be removed, so this exercise was just another waste of driver's money.
PS Drivers will also have to hand over three million pounds of tolls, to make it harder for non drivers to jump off the bridge - Yorkshire Post - "Anti-suicide barrier planned for Humber Bridge".


Sunday 7 June 2009

USA Roundup

New Hampshire - "State gas tax hike lesser of all evils"   DC / Virginia - "HOT Lanes Would Continue Incentives for Carpoolers"   West Virginia - "Toll fight".

Daily Mail gives the Trolls a free advert

"For sale: The 240-year-old bridge that will cost £1.65m- but earn you £113k a year in tax-free tolls".


Saturday 6 June 2009

When the money keeps rolling in, you don't ask how

Courier Mail - "Electronic road toll tag gives big gains to government".

USA Roundup

Sundry stories - Georgia - "Toll design for I-75 and I-575 scaled back"   Washington State - "Kilmer limits Tacoma Narrows Bridge expenses"   Oregon / Washington State - "Kilmer limits Tacoma Narrows Bridge expenses"   West Virginia - "Gov. Manchin Says Toll Hike Necessary" video   Florida - "TNT offering drivers free toll Sept. 1"   Louisiana - "Toll Required For New Bridge To Grand Isle".

Pennsylvania - "County seeks repeal of I-80 toll plan"   Florida - "Express toll lanes may charge into South Dade"   Pennsylvania - "Commissioners reaffirm opposition to I-80 tolls"   Land Line Mag - "Public opinion negative on West Virginia toll increasess"   Land Line Mag - "Public opinion negative on West Virginia toll increasess".

The Train Lord's turn

NCE - "Lord Adonis replaces Geoff Hoon as transport secretary"   Scunthorpe Telegraph - "Hoon's resignation delays toll campaign".

"Tax in disguise that is to the benefit of private company at the detriment of the most humble of people"

Inside Costa Rica - "Ombudswoman Siding With Santa Ana Residents On Flaws Caldera Highway".

Effect of Japanese toll reductions

"Surprisingly, it could be good news for environmentalists: The government estimates that carbon emissions could actually decline slightly with a 20 percent rise in highway traffic as motorists in smaller cars on longer, higher-speed journeys achieve even greater fuel efficiency." - Alibaba - "As tolls halve, Japan drivers hit the highways".

More nonsense from 10 Downing Street

Yesterday the Prime Minister took time out from his shuffling of the chairs around the Cabinet table to answer an e-petition. The petition which attracted 26,000 signatures was about the Vehicle excise duty changes - FT - "Unfair-ved - epetition response".
Part oI-5 bridge planners want public's thoughts about tolls ED is to ensure that the tax paid per vehicle reflects the emissions from that vehicle." As VED is the same whether the vehicle travels 100,000 miles or 1 mile, this is nonsense. It demonstrates the extent to which New Labour is brain dead and is controlled by the establishment.
Unfortunately for drivers and the public at large there is no sign that the Tories or Lib Dems would also not follow illogical policies that are bad for drivers and bad for Britain as a whole.

MP's second home worries eased

FT - "House prices see highest jump since 2006".


Friday 5 June 2009

MP wants Dartford pain halved

Echo - "MP wants your views on the river crossing". Why not remove all the pain?

"Hit them harder"

Metro News (Toronto) - "‘War’ on cars should go much further".


Thursday 4 June 2009

No change - inflation effort continues

News release - "Bank of England Maintains Bank Rate at 0.5% and continues with £125 Billion Asset Purchase Programme".

Toll payers fight back

Reading Chronicle - "'It's like a toll gate in a high street'".

Humber tolls

Council to stop helping the trolls - Scunthorpe Telegraph - "Bridge ticket sales axed in toll protest".

Cyclists the new Lords and drivers the new serfs

Star - "Time to stop nutty war on cars".

Farmers forced to invest in toll roads - and then wait a lifetime to get repaid

Shanghai Daily - "Residents loan money but government skips repayments".


Wednesday 3 June 2009

Graham Stringer complains about "referendum"

Manchester Evening News - "Stringer slams 'snub' on C-charge ". As we told everybody till we were blue in the face, what happened in Manchester was a "local poll" not a referendum. This is not just semantics, as with a local poll there are no rules, it can be completely one sided as far as spending goes and you can use misleading advertising (except on TV where all political advertising is banned). MPs should change the law so that issues such as road tolls are treated as proper referendums.

Reprieve to end

Inside Costa Rica - "Santa Ana Tolls Will Go Ahead As Planned Transport Minister Assured".

"GONEGESTION"

More on "Road-charging stuck in the slow lane" - Mirror.

USA Roundup

The Defense establishment's RAND Corporation selling tolls again?   RAND press release - "Equity Concerns Raised by Transportation Congestion Pricing Can Be Addressed To Make Approach Viable"   The report.


Monday 1 June 2009

USA Roundup

America's biggest ever bankruptcy and the Government takeover of America's biggest car maker - CNN - "GM files for bankruptcy".

"Road-charging stuck in the slow lane"

FT.   Slow lane? It should have been scrapped like an old banger, but there is so much loot to be made that this vampire will keep on rising.
The most significant development at the moment is the move to put "road user charges" on a free bridge near Liverpool - Runcorn bridge and "Mersey Gateway" bridge, it is not surprising that the RAC Foundation have kept very quiet about this, but we wonder why almost everyone else is ignoring this Trojan Horse?

"Conservative Policy Ideas Need To Grasp What is Really Strangling Democracy in Britain"