bad news for kent

[nick mercedes]

The Government will launch the UK’s first barrier-free toll in two years’ time – and it claims the scheme will cost as much as £84million to set up.

The toll booths at the Thames crossing in Dartford, Kent, will be replaced with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras in October 2014.

Rather than hand over cash, drivers will pay via text, phone, online or at retail outlets – in a system similar to the London Congestion Charge. The Department for Transport says the new ‘free-flow’ set-up will speed up traffic and reduce congestion.

However, the added efficiency will come at a cost. The Highways Agency expects to pay up to £84m to whoever wins the contract to create the free-flow toll, to finance tearing down barriers, installing cameras and building the payment system.

So it’d take 42 million cars paying the £2 toll to break even. The contractor will also rake in between £237m and £478m from the Government to run the toll for 10 years.

Absent-minded crossing users will also feel the pinch, as current Government proposals on penalising motorists who drive through free-flow tolls without paying suggest fines should be as high as £180.

The authorities could be given power to impound the vehicles of drivers who have three unpaid penalty notices, and end up with the pound full of Fords.

UK's first barrier-free toll to cost £84million | Auto Express

 

[Dieselman]

What if your car doesn't have a front numberplate?

 

[d w124]

What if your car doesn't have a front numberplate?

Here we go

 

[renault12ts]

About time too...they've had this on the Dublin urban motorway for years.

 

[Colin_b]

What if your car doesn't have a front numberplate?

You have to reverse over or be a motorcycle.

 

[Dieselman]

You have to reverse over or be a motorcycle.

Or, reverse over a motorcycle.

 

[jaymanek]

Sharp rise in number plate thefts in Kent in 2014 then!

 

[Palfrem]

How much did the crossing cost to build?

 

[grober]

Rather than hand over cash, drivers will pay via text, phone, online ---------- in a system similar to the London Congestion Charge. The Department for Transport says the new ‘free-flow’ set-up will speed up traffic and reduce congestion.
Cue -----Right---- coming up to the Dartford Crosssinnnngg shortly-----B****r!!!! forgot to buy a ticket------ just get textinnnnggg here to buuuuuuyyyyyy a ticket-------S**T I've just driven into the back of a bus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[verytalldave]

Anybody and everybody who has sat waiting in the miles of traffic - specially on a Friday afternoon - to use the crossing couldn't care one jot about ANYTHING except getting through to the other side as quick as possible. I have sat waiting there for over 3-4 hours sometimes. Anything to speed up the process is fine by me.

 

[markjay]

The waiting (or even just stopping) is a waste of working time, costs fuel, increases brake and clutch wear, and causes massive pollution which is no doubt responsible for many sicknesses and potentially even deaths in the Dartford area (yes, there are people living near by)

It should have been done away with long time ago - no idea why they waited until now.

To my mind the government should have just lifted the barriers long time ago - even if it meant subsiding the running costs of the crossing from the public purse.

The harm that has been inflicted on drivers and residents alike in the name of raising revenues (even if it is only to pay for running and maintenance costs) is totally unacceptable.

 

[markjay]

...and the government's claim that the toll-charging at the crossing is meant to regulate traffic in the area is utterly bonkers.

There is absolutely no alternative to using the Dartford crossing - unless you are willing to drive all the to the Blackwall Tunnel.

I am fairly certain that anyone passing there would do so at any cost, so traffic will not be affected by charging or not charging for use of the crossing.

 

[brucemillar]

I use the Dartford crossing several times a week and have a Dart-Tag which is free to obtain and gives a 50p discount on each crossing. It is not funny when the car/driver in front gets to the toll and then starts a conversation about having no money. Due to the traffic volume the entire lane gets jammed in seconds with no hope of reversing out. It can take some time for them to release the offending car. This is a very frequent occurrence. I have no idea what they do if you have no dosh?

 

[st13phil]

This is the thin end of a very fat road charging wedge. If you want to read the DfT Consultation Paper, its here. Once the core Regulation is in place, it just requires a simple SI to expand it elsewhere. Today Dartford Crossing, tomorrow, any road they damn well like.

As for the Dartford Crossing, it is an ongoing disgrace and testament to the lying nature of all politicians that there is any charge on it at all.

 

[MOCAŠ]

The sooner we get proper road charging, with a proper system of vehicle identification, the better. That way, the government can continually adjust charging based on the type and congestion/pollution of the roads being used, incorporating any tolls, and drivers can just pay for their usage via direct debit. The current system of requiring (or allowing) drivers to hand over coins en route is hopelessly inefficient.

 

[markjay]

I am not opposed to road charging as such... my point is that whatever we do we should not make drivers stop, queue, and pollute. Surely we have enough technology around us to accommodate for this - as the Congestion Charge system proves.

 

[MOCAŠ]

I am not opposed to road charging as such... my point is that whatever we do we should not make drivers stop, queue, and pollute. Surely we have enough technology around us to accommodate for this - as the Congestion Charge system proves.

Fully agree, markjay. I was appalled at the system used on the Italian autostrada when I was last there, where the serried ranks of toll booths at each designated on/off point were not only an eyesore, but also took up an inordinate amount of land.

At least the congestion charging system doesn't require drivers to stop to pay, but it is also less than ideal - look at all the infrastructure required, from cameras to road signs, and the expense of maintaining that. And it's all keyed to a fixed area, which you have to pay to enter (during operational hours) whether it's congested or not, while altering the area covered (either expanding or contracting) is a nightmare. Imagine this eventually repeated in cities up and down the country!

Much better to have a national, satellite-based road pricing system with the current pricing decided in response to local conditions and relayed to drivers via their cars' telemetrics.

 

[BigSilverEstate]

.

There is absolutely no alternative to using the Dartford crossing - unless you are willing to drive all the to the Blackwall Tunnel.

Woolwich ferry? Lol.

Actually I don't know if you got it too but we had some bumph through the post about a consultation on two options for an additional river crossing in East London: another tunnel from the Greenwich peninsula going to I think Limehouse, or another ferry further East.

 

[John]

As long as the ANPR cameras record front and back numberplates, and they give you the chance to buy a ticket after you've been through as with the CC, in case you forget, should be fine.

The DT tolls are a nightmare!

 

[Bellow]

The current system of requiring (or allowing) drivers to hand over coins en route is hopelessly inefficient.

I am not opposed to road charging as such... my point is that whatever we do we should not make drivers stop, queue, and pollute.

It should have been done away with long time ago - no idea why they waited until now.

To my mind the government should have just lifted the barriers long time ago - even if it meant subsiding the running costs of the crossing from the public purse.

The first thing the SNP did when elected was scrap toll booths. No massive expenditure on another system, merely absorbed the slight loss of revenue for the benefits of improved traffic flow and delivering to the public what they voted for.
Watch and learn.