Dartford crossing payments at toll booth to be removed from October 2014

Rroff said:
Yeah wording isn't very clear but it looks like it means you have an approx 24 hour window in which to pay either before or after using the crossing which is progress IMO.
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So long as it's clearly signed, this should be fine.
 
Malt_Vinegar said:
Daft idea.
Purely to make money.
Use the traffic story to get public support.
save a load of money on staff salaries
Then shrug when traffic remains the same for all the reasons stated above and run off to the bank.
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Do you ever drive along toll booths ?

They are a massive cause of congestion and very very annoying. Anywhere in the world.

Every time I've been abroad and had to pay toll at a booth, ( France, Poland, etc...) it slowed you down by a good couple of minutes at best ( when it's deserted), or sometimes you are stuck in the jam in front of it for over 30 minutes.
 
I feel Sorry for the 150 staff that will lose there job but I think it's a Brilliant idea.

Drive straight through come home get on the web pay job done, Genius.
 
a) Totally disagree with having charges at all
b) Does seem a little crazy to have toll booths when the automated congestion charging works so well in london.
c) Can see how the booths control the tunnel flow, its like when you get to the other side of a lane closure and the traffic is suddenly all spaced out. I guess some level of variable speed limit will have to be put in to try and control the traffic?

d) Why can't you just sign up to something online account with your credit card and get billed as you use it? In fact why not attach your card to your numberplate and driving licence - if you lend your car out you transfer their driver ID onto it temporarily (same with hire etc) online or on the phone? Must be an easier way to do this surely?!?
 
acemastr said:
They've just started a Toll-by-plate scheme here, takes a picture of your licence plate and they send you the toll in the mail... $1.25 to go through it.... $2.50 admin fee! ludicrous. (I live right near a toll road, luckily there's a road next to it I use to get to work without paying)
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To be fair a combination of this method would work well.

If you don't pay within the 24 hours you are sent a letter requesting the toll fee plus a £2.50 for admin - this must then be paid within 14 days.

If this is ignored then fine as before.
 
do you ever drive along toll booths ?

They are a massive cause of congestion and very very annoying. Anywhere in the world.

Every time I've been abroad and had to pay toll at a booth, ( France, Poland, etc...) it slowed you down by a good couple of minutes at best ( when it's deserted), or sometimes you are stuck in the jam in front of it for over 30 minutes.
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Yes I do.
my comments still stand. We are not dealing with a toll on a flat bit of same width road.
The pinch point is the crossing. The booths just sit in front of it and take the blame. See what happens when they are gone.
Whilst working at an engineering firm I was shown a few advanced traffic models. Take a three lane circle with free flowing traffic. Add one driver braking slightly and the wave through the traffic is amazing to see.
The crossing will cause people to brake, even slightly and combined with a heavy flow of traffic this will cause a jam that will only get worse till the traffic flow entering the jam reduces enough to counter the slowdown
 
snowdog said:
Do you ever drive along toll booths ?

They are a massive cause of congestion and very very annoying. Anywhere in the world.

Every time I've been abroad and had to pay toll at a booth, ( France, Poland, etc...) it slowed you down by a good couple of minutes at best ( when it's deserted), or sometimes you are stuck in the jam in front of it for over 30 minutes.
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I've never queued for more than 2 minutes in the US and by far the longest was the "toll booths" for Disney carparks. Actual toll roads it's usually no queue or less than a minute.
 
Luke said:
This makes me so angry.

We were told that when a suitable time had elapsed that the charge would be removed, once enough money had been made to pay for the building and then subsequent maintenance of the tunnel.
Then instead of scrapping the toll they increased the charge, stating the booths had to remain in place to ensure the traffic flow was kept at a steady flow.
Not that has gone out of the window and they are removing the booths which is simply as they have worked out how to charge without needing to employ anyone.
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This really. I have only ever used the tunnel a handful of times so it's not going to really effect me, but the whole principal of the tunnel management going back on statements clearly made to the public in order to keep the cash rolling in sickens me.

Locally the Tamar bridge (which I do use quite often) have also angered people by introducing a monthly charge for the tag system, on top of the crossing charge. The same system that reduces congestion and reduces the need for manned barriers. Lots of people have simply handed their tags back in, so I genuinely hope this backfires on them.
 
nutcase_1uk said:
I've never queued for more than 2 minutes in the US and by far the longest was the "toll booths" for Disney carparks. Actual toll roads it's usually no queue or less than a minute.
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The A2 in Poland on peak days, ugh, I've waited for 30 minutes sometimes in front of the tollbooths, same in France during holiday times on the route 'du Soleil.

Malt_Vinegar said:
Yes I do.
my comments still stand. We are not dealing with a toll on a flat bit of same width road.
The pinch point is the crossing. The booths just sit in front of it and take the blame. See what happens when they are gone.
Whilst working at an engineering firm I was shown a few advanced traffic models. Take a three lane circle with free flowing traffic. Add one driver braking slightly and the wave through the traffic is amazing to see.
The crossing will cause people to brake, even slightly and combined with a heavy flow of traffic this will cause a jam that will only get worse till the traffic flow entering the jam reduces enough to counter the slowdown
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I know about these ''ghost traffic jams''/''brake waves'' as we call them here, does the motorway itself have insufficient capacity there then ? It looks like there are very few toll booths for the amount of lanes of traffic over there.

Most toll booths however have a way lower ADT capacity than the motorway itself, which means it's basically a choke point/bottleneck.
 
Ryan-3 said:
This. I personally don't see why we have tolls in the UK since we pay road tax, unless you have a microscopic diseasel. ;)
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We don't pay road tax - there is no such thing. We pay Vehicle Excise Duty which is a tax based on your vehicle's emissions. It isn't used for maintaining the roads.
 
About time they did this. I'm fed up with having to get up at stupid 'o clock whenever I want to go & see my sister in order to beat the toll queues.

I have no doubt they will use this as excuse to put up the toll charge as well. :mad:
 
Yeah but gone will be the drag races from the booths ;)

I think it would be far better to just let London flood, relieve congestion and move the work around the rest of the country. Job done.
 
So there's only a few weeks left before they implement the Dart Charge system and start pulling down the toll booths. I expect that any time advantages by implementing the free flow system will temporarily be cancelled out by the road works to reconfigure the road layout and ancillary systems but I usually see things like this as short-term pain for hopefully long-term gains (it's worked with the Managed Motorways they've implemented around large stretches of the M25, for example approaching junction 5 going clockwise was always busy before but I've never had to queue since).

Charges for cars will be £2.50 so an extra 50p on top for the priviledge of crossing the Thames, not really an issue for me as I claim it back from expenses via the company credit card but I can see how this may irk a fair few.
 
See that increased charge frustrates me. I have a Dart tag so I pay around £1.30 a time to go through and I put £50 a time so it's never a problem.

Are they going to honour the price for existing dart tag holders? or is it increased fares for everyone now?
 
I was down there a few weeks ago. Took me 45mins to an hour to make it from the bridge through the tolls and off to the roadabout where that Sainsbury's RDC is. It was a horrible experience, traffic all snarled up with no where to go.
 
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