Dartford crossing

[Zak33]

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.

me too... never ever sat stil on M6 toll.. but have waited millenia on the equiv part of M6... always use the toll me

at £5.50 its gallon of diesel value.. and half that can be wasted sitting for hours like a plum ....the rest is worth it for my time saved

[Saracen]

me too... never ever sat stil on M6 toll.. but have waited millenia on the equiv part of M6... always use the toll me

at £5.50 its gallon of diesel value.. and half that can be wasted sitting for hours like a plum ....the rest is worth it for my time saved

Depends where you're going. Some places, and traffic-dependent, and how much of a hurry I'm in, MAYBE. But the last few trips have been London-Stoke, and for that the M6 isn't necessary at all. Depending on quite how I set my SatNav, and on prevailing traffic, it tends to route me M1-A50-A500-A34, which is motorway, then dual-carriageway for all but about the last two miles. And it's a route I've yet to catch serious delays on, whereas several times in the last month, the M6 has had lane-closing incidents causing serious delays.

Personally, for some routes (Coventry, Brum, etc) I prefer M1-M45-A45, or even A-roads coming up through Leamington, etc. The M6 is okay when it works, but too often I've got caught up, and often before I even get to the toll bit, in which case, it doesn't work for me. But some places there might be no obvious or practical way round it. For Stoke, there sure is.

[Butcher]

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.

The idea behind the M6 Toll was to relieve congestion on the M6, which it has spectacularly failed to do due to the fact that not many people (and in part almost no trucks) use it.

Saracen, I've been stuck on the A500 a few times, it can get bad at rush hour and if any incident occurs it pretty much just snarls up immediately (2 lanes and no hard shoulder will do that).

[Saracen]

....

Saracen, I've been stuck on the A500 a few times, it can get bad at rush hour and if any incident occurs it pretty much just snarls up immediately (2 lanes and no hard shoulder will do that).

Oh, sure, any road can do it. Any busy road especially. The M6 just seems especially prone to it, and right now (with the lane narrowing) the M6 seems to be hovering on the edge of it most of the time.

[pp05]

So much for the "we'll cancel the toll once the bridge has paid for itself".

It paid for itself a long time ago and they have realised it is easy money.

[Ttaskmaster]

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.

I thought we were still also talking about the Dartford Crossing, which *definitely* doesn't charge bikes as I went over it the other day!

[Saracen]

I thought we were still also talking about the Dartford Crossing, which *definitely* doesn't charge bikes as I went over it the other day!

As with most threads, they evolve, including to M6 toll.

Bikes get away with it in some places (so far ) but not in others.

[Revvvhead]

When I first moved to the area in 2000 the toll was £1 each way, now £2.50 each way.
Can you think of anything else that has gone up 150% in 14 years. Not even petrol went up that fast, and we've had road blocks and strikes over that.
As has been said before, even Dick Turpin was honest enough to use a gun when he was robbing you.

[Ttaskmaster]

Can you think of anything else that has gone up 150% in 14 years.

Our local bus fares have gone up from 80p to £3.70... That's in less than 10 years, too.