cheezemonkhai

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4756763.stm

The problem i see here is that they will do road charging, but not abolish road tax and fuel tax, just add to it.

Talk about making the motorists pay many times for the same thing.

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Cars make CO2 and trees absorb CO2. By driving your car you're feeding a tree and helping the environment.

ScoobyChris

Surely this is just a congestion charge in very congested cities, rather than charging to use all roads? Sounds like a good idea to me

Chris

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Holding up the traffic in a little Italian..........

WW_VRS

Nope it would be per mile driven. Also a little side-effect would be that it's probably also a tracker so you could get done for speeding automatically as well..

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WW --->> Project Journal (pic links in first post there)
Lummox'/Ross thread on Unit18 Automotive progress on my car: here

Gwilo

I wonder how the intend to implement this.....
tiered pricing according to time of day? Business will love that and so will the staff, only reinforcing the notion that the motorist is seen as a cash cow.
Personally, I'll just refuse to turn up to work until it makes economic sense for me to do so - altering my work hours accordingly.
I pay enough in road tax and "insurance premium tax" and "fuel duty" already. Therefore, once I've paid those dues, what possible rationale is there to try and restrict or govern my mobility?

Of course, the response is "public transport will save us".
Boswellox. utter tripe, pish and piffle.
Have you tried to use bus and trains to get into and then out of manchester city centre during rush hour?
Despite customer complaints and the pointing out of various health & safety issues, First Northwest Trains still only put on a two carriage affair at peak times.....gross overcrowding before it even leaves rochdale. you physically cannot move.
Buses do not run to time, are poorly maintained (at least judging by the ones i see belching continous black smoke as they trundle along), bus time tables have become increasingly undecipherable as to what bus goes which way as they only list town destinations/points.....it's like some secret society....
I had to use trains and bus last week - i left the house as usual at 7am. I unlocked my office door at 8:45. using my car, I'm in for 7:40 at the latest.

So it looks like I'll just have to suck up the "per mile" road charge when it hits. Of course, motorists will seek out alternate routes to avoid city centres as much as possible, so the congestion will be pushed onto other A/B roads and through residential areas, the traffic in the centres will reduce and the government can say "see, we told you it would work", neatly ignoring the chaos, misery and risks posed to, for example, children and elderly walking to school/post office etc.....

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cheezemonkhai

I wouldn't have so much of an issue with this is they removed all other taxes on motorists. As it is I can think of tax on fuel, insurance, the car new, registration is a chargeable.

Additionally they will use it to do something nasty. The reg plate recognition system they have up and running at the moment they want to more with by putting things every quarter mile. Sorry but I can't get to work for a sensible price or on time using theis lame excuse for public transport. I take a passenger who works at the same place as me everyday. Would i get a reduction in tax for this?

IMHO I hate the tories, but it is time for this government to go as they never listen to the public and just do whatever they feel like.

Of course if they do charge per mile since most of the price of fuel is tax then there would be no incentive to drive more economical cars, so they would keep fuel tax as an environmental tax. F**king country, am really sick of it now. </rant over>

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Cars make CO2 and trees absorb CO2. By driving your car you're feeding a tree and helping the environment.

Moose

It would be hard for me to get to work, the train lines run parallel to each other that serve my and my works town and only meet in London and thats a good idea isn't it...

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Sunlight Silver MX-5 1.8 Sport

Fish

Couldn't agree more!

I'd like to know just how much they would be planning to charge? I have a 54 mile round trip 5 days a week.

Maybe I won't earn enough to be able to 'afford' to go to work. In which case, I'll give up work, find a ways and means of claiming off the 'social' and live off the state just like countless other thousands do 'cause I'm sick of being taxed to death by this government to support their bone-idle 'lifestyle'.

And no, I don't want to move to be nearer work as I enjoy getting away from the blasted place each night to enjoy my life!

I may not be factually correct with any of my comments, but boy, I don't half feel a little better for it!

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Fish
"Skoda Fabia - Full of lovely squeaks 'n' rattles"
Boggo standard except: self fit rear mudflaps, in-dash cubby, Greggs sausage roll crumbs
Skoda Fabia vRS - Vitesse Rallye Sport (as they say oop north!)

cheezemonkhai

Ditto 27 miles two times a day to get to work.

Nobody at work wants to live near work. I think it's about time the social money is cut down a bit as people are taking the **** really. I know social claimers who are in houses tha ti couldn't afford to even rent. Grrr

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Cars make CO2 and trees absorb CO2. By driving your car you're feeding a tree and helping the environment.

Fish

My rant is based on a place near to where I work - the shopping centre there is full of the cream of the 'social' society every single day (gym-slip mums, pikeys, druggies) you name it, this 'unnamed' place has it!

I'm all for giving everyone a fair chance in life, but I don't expect to be funding every bugger else for the rest of mine!

I'm a single white male and as is the case with this government, I basically don't need worrying about and therefore am expected to pay my way and get nowt in return!

I'm off to bed before I really lose my temper!

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Fish
"Skoda Fabia - Full of lovely squeaks 'n' rattles"
Boggo standard except: self fit rear mudflaps, in-dash cubby, Greggs sausage roll crumbs
Skoda Fabia vRS - Vitesse Rallye Sport (as they say oop north!)

daiking

There is one very good reason for road pricing. Gordon Brown collects something like £30Bn in tax from motorists, mostly from fuel. Can you imagine what would happen if we all went out tomorrow and bought "G-Whiz" electric noddy cars? Revenue from petrol tax would plummet and other taxes would have to go up to compensate. (I'm ignorng all that extra VAT for the time being as its a one off windfall). How can you charge 47.1p a litre fuel duty on electricity?

Amongst other things, road pricing allows the government to hedge their bets on the transport energy source of the future. If that energy is something like hydrogen with a limited, controlled supply then they can probably tax it like petrol but if its an energy source with almost unlimited access like leccy then any government would be stuffed. They'd have to tax all electricity extra and that would not be a vote winner.

Although to run a punitve road pricing scheme alongside the existing fuel tax regime is a little harsh.

On Gwilo's point of disjointed government thinking a) I live IN manchester (hulme) and work outside, The roads coming in everyday are bedlam whilst I cruise out on almost empty roads but would still pay the £1.20 per mile that was quoted last year because its busy on the other side of the road and b) I live on a busy main road and people complained it was too difficult to cross because of all the parked cars. So the council came along and put in a load of parking restrictions. Now the locals complain that because there's fewer obstructions (i.e. parked cars) the cars speed up and down the road at 40 not 30 so they still can't cross the road. I await the first useless speed camera.