Govt to buy out Toll bridge?

[room305]

Do you use the M50? Drive southbound on a proper commuting morning (not these days) and experience the backlogs at Naas Road exit, Tallaght exit, Ballymount exit, and the Leopardstown/Sandyford exit? The toll bridge is behind you, yet the traffic is manic on those junctions at peak times.

I use it frequently still and for a period of more than six months I used it every day. There will of course still be problems at the access roads at peak times if you remove the toll booth. However, removing a great big roadblock in the middle of the M50 will still be beneficial.

If you spend 1 hour queuing at the toll booth and half an hour queuing at an exit ramp it does not necessarily follow that you will then spend an hour and a half at the exit ramp if you remove the toll booth. Not everyone queuing at the booth will be using the same exit ramp. It may increase the line at the exit ramp slightly but I think overall there would be a huge improvement.

That said, it is all conjecture until we can actually test either hypotheses. It seems close to madness that we would just gamble €600M on buying out NTR and hope that solves the problem.

 

[bearishbull]

Either way it will do no harm to open the tolls for a week during peak hours in september (paid for by governement) to study the m50 traffic. i've read before how a small delay in on part of a road network can have exxagerated effects elsewhere.there should be no intrusive tolls on the short road that is the m50,maybe electronic tolls using cameras could be used once they dont slow traffic flow.

 

[Howitzer]

i've read before how a small delay in on part of a road network can have exxagerated effects elsewhere.there should be no intrusive tolls on the short road that is the m50,maybe electronic tolls using cameras could be used once they dont slow traffic flow.

True, everyone knows how rubberneckers can cause crazy tailbacks for no apparent reason.

 

[thewatcher]

To say the toll bridge does not cause congestion is just plain rubbish,the length of time it takes a 40ft truck to slow down hand over the toll and then get going again is huge.

 

[RainyDay]

If the physical operation of paying the toll is such a huge problem, why don't more drivers take up the Eazypass option - it seems like a small minority use this at present.

 

[Purple]

Apparently it’s not illegal not to pay the toll so they can’t have barrier free lanes.
I read in the IT a while back that there was legislation pending to change this. Once this is in place the plan was to move to open lanes.
A friend from New York told me that if you drove up to their equivalent of the easy pass lane (their one has no barrier), and had no easy pass, you still had to drive through. There is no window to knock on etc. A camera reads your plates and you are sent a $100 fine in the post. Not paying the fine can land you in prison. I think that’s a great idea.

Delays are not in the interest of NTR as they want to make as much money as they can so if they can get us through faster they will.

 

[thewatcher]

Apparently it’s not illegal not to pay the toll so they can’t have barrier free lanes.
I read in the IT a while back that there was legislation pending to change this. Once this is in place the plan was to move to open lanes.
A friend from New York told me that if you drove up to their equivalent of the easy pass lane (their one has no barrier), and had no easy pass, you still had to drive through. There is no window to knock on etc. A camera reads your plates and you are sent a $100 fine in the post. Not paying the fine can land you in prison. I think that’s a great idea.

Delays are not in the interest of NTR as they want to make as much money as they can so if they can get us through faster they will.

I thought NTR's revenue was capped and the government got everything over a certain level,which is probably why NTR have no interest in the investment required for barrier free tolling !.

 

[sonnyikea]

Reading this with interest. Does anyone think that with the level of VRT and the cost of road tax that toll roads in this country are unacceptable? I would not mind paying to use a road on a per usage basis if road tax was at a reasonable level. As it is I have trouble seeing where the road tax money is being spent.

Report on the news there that there are delays at the toll bridge.......is everyone that thinks the toll bridge isn't a bottleneck sure they are correct? If you have a road that has a 120km/h speed limit and you put an obstruction on it that means every vehicle, bar the eazypass, has to stop of course it is going to cause delays.

 

[CelloPoint]

Reading this with interest. Does anyone think that with the level of VRT and the cost of road tax that toll roads in this country are unacceptable? I would not mind paying to use a road on a per usage basis if road tax was at a reasonable level. As it is I have trouble seeing where the road tax money is being spent.

Report on the news there that there are delays at the toll bridge.......is everyone that thinks the toll bridge isn't a bottleneck sure they are correct? If you have a road that has a 120km/h speed limit and you put an obstruction on it that means every vehicle, bar the eazypass, has to stop of course it is going to cause delays.

2nd richest country in the world (allegedly), 3rd-world infrastructure.

This is 20-06 and I just don't understand why there's no motorway to Galway, Cork, Waterford, Belfast...

We've had our chance at making something out of this country and we've blown it. IMHO, the economic storm clouds loom and the whole country is just one big mess that will never be right.

 

[Purple]

We might have the second highest income but we are not the second richest.
Here’s a comparison; your neighbour earned €60’000 a year for 20 years and you earned €40’000 over the same period. You both use your money equally wisely; have the same outgoings and save/ invest the rest in the same way.
Then you get a pay rise to €70’000. Does this make you richer than your neighbour or does it juts mean that at the moment you have more cash?

 

[golden mean]

Why is Eazypass such a cumbersome tool to use? I am fortunate enough not to have to use the tolls gates to get to work, but I do use them fairly regularly some months- other months not at all.

I would like to use Eazypass, to avail of the faster gate and to do my bit to speed up traffic flow. I would expect that NTR would like more people to do this too- fewer staff required on the bridge, good PR if they can speed up the flow, etc. Can anyone tell me then WHY there is a monthly fee for the "service" which applies whether you use the toll gate or not(and which the small print says they can increase at any time, something which they never remember to mention in any of their ad campaigns- surely deceptive, but I digress). What was wrong with the old tokens you could buy? They were handy!

I can only conclude that they are trying to dissuade occasional users (that might also be why when unsuspecting travellers from outside Dublin hit the m50 to the airport, there are not signs telling them what the toll is until they are right at the gate, but they do have a simple sign telling them to have the toll ready.)

Things are only going to get worse when all the port tunnel traffic is pushed out on the m50. I vote we start on a new outer ring road now.