Dartford crossing

[Revvvhead]

Just wanted to have a rant about the price hike from £2 a crossing to £2.50 as from the end of the week. This is less than 2 years after if went up from £1.50.
This is daylight robbery to sit in at least an hour of queues for the tolls, each way, everyday.
1 millions cars a week use the crossing, so that 2.5 Million right there before you add in the lorries.
Which ever party promises to abolish these tolls at the next election gets my vote.

[jimbouk]

Whilst it doesn't even slightly affect me, I don't believe this is the model that should be applied to pay for our roads. It's not like you can just privatise them, talk about instant monopolies. We're taxed for this stuff already.

[Ttaskmaster]

Who owns it?
Who maintains it?

If they're having to use a contractor, then they're pretty much at the mercy of whoever tenders for the contract... and prices are going up in all such walks of this industry. Health & Safety, rise of living costs, private company shareholders and many other reasons for this kind of work to cost more.

[MrJim]

Not only that, but they're going over to a pre-pay system soon, I believe.

[shaithis]

It's £1.50 to cross the Tamar bridge these days, considering the difference in upkeep and traffic volume, I think £2.50 for the Dartford crossing isn't that bad.

Must say the few times I went over the Dartford crossing, I wish I had gone around! Not a fan of heights and kept getting stuck in traffic.....that thing doesn't look or feel safe....which would make me not want to scrimp on its upkeep!

[TeePee]

A pre-pay system will help with congestion, but also increase revenue. Look at the congestion charge as an example, about 25% of the income is from fines.

[Zak33]

hold up... it's prices are lower if you prepay guys...

if you advance pay it's £1.67 (you have to pay £10 into it but if you close it you get a refund)

If you do it regulalry it's £10 a year for 50 crossings and 20pence per extra crossing, or £20 a year for unlimited crossings
https://www.gov.uk/pay-dartford-crossing-charge
https://www.gov.uk/dartford-crossing...ions-penalties

So.. the tolls will go.. it's going to run smoother and it's a massive bridge that needs maintenance... why is it so expensive? I don't think it is... the fuel to "go around" is a lot more

they could have just not built it....

so.. I HATE the toll booths.. I HATEqueues.. and I think the queue level should drop once people dont have to stop at the tolls

[Saracen]

If you think Dartford is bad, try the M6 toll. A car, daytime (0600-2300) and weekday, is £5.50.

I've been in Stoke a fair bit recenty, and took to going M1/A50, avoiding the M6 entirely, for this reason. Oh, and the time difference, home to destination? About 2 minutes.

And the M6 is just a road. No tunnel or bridge to maintain.

I now have my SatNav set to "always ask" about Tolls, and Congestion zones, and the answer, nearly always, will be "avoid". Especially the M6 toll.

[Andy3536]

The dartford crossings tolls were supposed to go along time ago. But it's yet another thing that the polotitians lied about. And now it's owned by the French iirc. Bit of a joke really.
At least the automated system will help congestion, but the toll should have gone more that 10 years ago. As promised.

[Butcher]

If you think Dartford is bad, try the M6 toll. A car, daytime (0600-2300) and weekday, is £5.50.

I've been in Stoke a fair bit recenty, and took to going M1/A50, avoiding the M6 entirely, for this reason. Oh, and the time difference, home to destination? About 2 minutes.

And the M6 is just a road. No tunnel or bridge to maintain.

I now have my SatNav set to "always ask" about Tolls, and Congestion zones, and the answer, nearly always, will be "avoid". Especially the M6 toll.

I almost always avoid the M6 and use the A50/M1 as an alternative, it's a much nicer drive and a lot less prone to traffic issues (even with the toll you will almost always get stuck around J13-16 on the M6).

[Saracen]

I almost always avoid the M6 and use the A50/M1 as an alternative, it's a much nicer drive and a lot less prone to traffic issues (even with the toll you will almost always get stuck around J13-16 on the M6).

Agreed. And the current roadworks don't help, either.

[Lucio]

Don't agree with toll roads when there is not a viable alternative route (such as Dartford), but can accept ones like the M6 toll were you're given the option of paying for a better route but aren't forced to do so.

[RobbieRoy]

Here in Suffolk the main routes out are the A12 and A14 - the former is desperately in need of upgrading and funding for that is a current local political football. The A14 improvement for the Cambridge to Huntington link (has to take traffic from the M11 and the A14 until it meets the A1 and is always a 20 mile bottleneck) was originally pitched as a toll financed improvement. However, after a loud public outcry this idea was dropped. Enough users pay enough taxes already!

That said, I usually chose to pay to use the M6 toll if I'm going from here to North Wales (a routine journey) as I feel the cost is worth the reduced congestion and reliable road speed. That's my choice, though.

[Ttaskmaster]

Do what I do and ride a motorcycle - No fees at all!!!

[Saracen]

Do what I do and ride a motorcycle - No fees at all!!!

Erm, M6 pricing guide specifies motobikes as "class 1" vehicles. The fee, in the daytime-weekday period I menioned earlier is £3.

So, yup, fees.

[wasabi]

Erm, M6 pricing guide specifies motobikes as "class 1" vehicles. The fee, in the daytime-weekday period I menioned earlier is £3.

So, yup, fees.

Nah - just take the free motorway and use the special narrow lanes clearly marked by white lines they put out for us