----- Original Message ----- From: "Adrian Stott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 5:32 PM Subject: [canals-list] Re: Proposed new car tax (OT) ON Line Petitions
> Only if you refuse to arrange your life so you don't. A key purpose > of road pricing is to encourage you to make such changes. > Oh of course, because we all have a totally free choice of when and where we travel, because we're just doing it for a laugh and to kill some trees. Or just choose a proportion of the workforce and force them to work unsocial hours. Never mind that people usually don't want work done in unsocial hours any more than the workers want to do it. I find myself in a queue, I know it's not there at certain times, but the stuff I'm going to fix didn't choose to break down then. There is an uncongested alternative, but I forgot that if you follow the road signs in this instance they take you right to the congestion for some reason. It's bad enough that this happens when a bit of investment would solve it, but charging extra for the privelige is really extracting the urine. > This is exactly what happens with the toll motorway around Birmingham. > It seems to be working well. The M6 through Birmingham had the road markings painted so that at one point there were only two through lanes southbound. Around the time the M6 Toll opened, it was repainted to give three through lanes. Wonder why that was? The M6 Toll is a good indicator of how these schemes will operate. As an occasional user it is very difficult to find out ahead of time just how much it is going to cost because it varies with the time of day and also by a set of arbitary vehicle definitions with little or no connection to any recognised standards. > >>These traffic queues will, of course, cause more pollution than the >>free-running >>traffic on the more expensive roads. It's not about pollution, it's about getting rid of cars because they allow far to much individual freedom for some people's liking. > > Actually, they will probably balance out, as the more congested the > untolled road gets, the more people will be willing to pay to use the > tolled one. If that was the case, why would the original road need tolls? Surely the congestion would do the job? -- Niall
