Bad Deal M50

N

Niallm

Registered User
Messages
57
What on earth is going on there? The road is a bottleneck and now they want to charge us more for using it. There is a lot of people who have no choice and this is just another charge on the working Man / Woman

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0921/toll.html
West Link toll to rise by 10c in January


The National Roads Authority has announced a 10c price increase for motorists using the M50 toll bridge on Dublin's West Link from the beginning of next year.
The toll will go up from €1.90 to €2 in January - an increase of more than 5%.
Motorists who do not have pre-paid tags in their vehicles will also be charged up to €3 to use the motorway when the planned barrier-free tolling is introduced in August 2008.

More than 100,000 vehicles pass through the toll bridge each day
 
Niallm said:
That many be the case but then they will raise it again to €2.10
Click to expand...

No, the next increase wil be a 7.6% increase, equating to 15.2 cent, which will have to be rounded up to €2.20.

I'm not joking - this is what they did at the time of the Euro changeover!!!! Of course, none of our guttless politicians pulled them up for this.
 
Markjbloggs said:
Of course, none of our guttless politicians pulled them up for this.
Click to expand...

Won't those future above CPI increases be going to the politicians to ineptly spend on inefficient services as the buyout deal payments to NTR are only linked to CPI.
 
I live in Cork. I use the M50 toll station only about a half-dozen times a year, (say 12 trips through the plaza = 6 x 2).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think my choices are

a) Pay 12 x €3 = €36.

or

b) register and pay, 12 x €2 = €24, PLUS a monthly charge of €1.21 (€1 +VAT) = €14.52 AND maintain a minimum of €12.70 in the account.

So for my 6 round trips, I need to put €51.22 minimum into my account or pay €3 per trip.

Talk about Rip-off Republic!

btw, for the year ending 31st Mar 2007, NTR reported annual revenue as "tolling and other business" as €53.5 million.
 
Didn't I hear something on the radio a couple of years ago (The Last Word maybe?) from an 'insider' who claimed that the intended revenue to be accrued by the M50 toll was exceeded years ago and that the intention was then to remove the toll altogether? The guy was claiming that the toll has been 'money for nothing' for some time now. Anyone remember anything about this?
 
Marathon Man said:
I live in Cork. I use the M50 toll station only about a half-dozen times a year, (say 12 trips through the plaza = 6 x 2).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think my choices are

a) Pay 12 x €3 = €36.

or

b) register and pay, 12 x €2 = €24, PLUS a monthly charge of €1.21 (€1 +VAT) = €14.52 AND maintain a minimum of €12.70 in the account.

So for my 6 round trips, I need to put €51.22 minimum into my account or pay €3 per trip.

Talk about Rip-off Republic!

btw, for the year ending 31st Mar 2007, NTR reported annual revenue as "tolling and other business" as €53.5 million.
Click to expand...

You can use your easy-pass on any toll road in Ireland.
An extra charge on those users that choose to slow down traffic for other users is fair enough in my view. Also remember that the state gets over half of the toll charge in the form of a direct cut and VAT. They also take corporation tax from NTR. NTR are also involved in many other businesses, I do not know what proportion of their turn over comes from the M50.

That said €2 is not cheap and I think easy pass customers should be rewarded in some way at the moment for speeding up traffic flow, even if it's only to the tail-back at the other side of the toll.
 
Caveat said:
Didn't I hear something on the radio a couple of years ago (The Last Word maybe?) from an 'insider' who claimed that the intended revenue to be accrued by the M50 toll was exceeded years ago and that the intention was then to remove the toll altogether? The guy was claiming that the toll has been 'money for nothing' for some time now. Anyone remember anything about this?
Click to expand...


I don't, but come on now Caveat, just cos Scotland did away with the Erskine bridge toll to ease congestion (after the build costs had been met) doesn't mean it's going to happen here!
(then again, they were only getting £0.60 -about 87 cents- a time there)
 
The monthly charge and the minimum a/c level of €12.70 are unfair in my view and, while presumably fully legal, are nevertheless of symptomatic of a monopoly.
 
Purple said:
You can use your easy-pass on any toll road in Ireland.
Click to expand...
Ok, I'll use the Fermoy by-pass on the same trips to Dublin, other than that....probably won't be going through a toll booth...so....little benefit.

An extra charge on those users that choose to slow down traffic for other users is fair enough in my view.
Click to expand...
Perhaps.....but 50% extra over other users??....and an overall increase of 57.9% (€1.90 to €3.00). I generally go through at off-peak times, so the issue of slowing down traffic isn't really an issue.

Choice?? My point was that I either pay them €6 for a single round trip or shell out a minimum of €22.33 (2 x €3, plus €12.70 plus 1.21 for, say, 3 months -to keep the account active)

Also remember that the state gets over half of the toll charge in the form of a direct cut and VAT. They also take corporation tax from NTR.
Click to expand...
I can rest more easily, knowing that the extortion is going to a good cause! :rolleyes:

NTR are also involved in many other businesses, I do not know what proportion of their turn over comes from the M50.
Click to expand...
See my earlier post...
btw, for the year ending 31st Mar 2007, NTR reported annual revenue as "tolling and other business" as €53.5 million.
Click to expand...
Not all the revenue comes from the West Link but a HUGE proportion does!

BTW, NTRs overall turnover, for the year ending 31st Mar, was nearly half a Billion euro!
 
Last edited:
ubiquitous said:
The monthly charge and the minimum a/c level of €12.70 are unfair in my view and, while presumably fully legal, are nevertheless of symptomatic of a monopoly.
Click to expand...

This is the case with EasyPass. e-Toll T&Cs are different and it's a lot better deal. It will not only let you through all the toll bridges in the country but will also allow you to get in and out of a multi-storey car park by deducting the parking fee off your account.
 
Isn't e-tolling or barrier free tolling meant to be introduced on the West Link by the end of 2008?
 
Purple said:
That said €2 is not cheap and I think easy pass customers should be rewarded in some way at the moment for speeding up traffic flow, even if it's only to the tail-back at the other side of the toll.
Click to expand...

I agree that €2 is not cheap, but if you use the M4 Enfield bypass, you have to pay €2.60 (up from €2.50 for its first few months). Why so much for a relatively short stretch of road? If you lived west of Enfield and wanted to use the motorway (I know you can drive around the toll by using the old Dublin road) to get to the airport, it can cost up to a tenner in tolls alone for a round-trip. Why is every new stretch of road not tolled, ie, why some and not others?
 
ubiquitous said:
The monthly charge and the minimum a/c level of €12.70 are unfair in my view and, while presumably fully legal, are nevertheless of symptomatic of a monopoly.
Click to expand...
But it's not a monopoly anymore - since all the electronic toll systems are interchangable now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top