[Mister Paul]

...and it's only at 50% capacity at the moment, sending all the traffic onto the M6, which it was built to ease.

Suggestions? £5 to use the M6?

http://news.bbc.co.u...and/8500556.stm

[rich p]

I used it once when it was cheaper but I came off at a midway point and felt I'd been striped up.

[Rhythm Thief]

I've used it occasionally, but only ever when someone else is paying. Even when the traffic on the M6 is at its worst it doesn't add more than perhaps half an hour onto the journey. Not worth a fiver to avoid, in my opinion.

[Globalti]

Thanks for the warning. Got to drive to Gatwick Friday evening.

[Twenty Inch]

I'm happy to use it whenever we drive to Scotland from Kent - I reckon it saves 15 quid on stopping to have another break/coffee/sandwich elsewhere.

[Aperitif]

I would always use it - I spent a long time looking at the back of flat bed lorries loaded with steel at one point in my life!

[Davidc]

Why not tolls on all main roads, priced according to weight (to reflect road damage)?

Make them big enough to start reinstating the railways.

[ASC1951]

Mister Paul said:

Suggestions? £5 to use the M6?

No. Deal with it the same way that low-cost airlines use market forces. Their first seats are the cheapest and the last are the most expensive.

Have a toll which varies within a wide band. Traffic density is monitored automatically and the toll drops when the M6 gets too full. Set the toll every 15 minutes, say, and display it far enough upstream for people to choose.

It's actually quite straightforward to do.

[Davidc]

Surely you'd want to raise the toll when the M6 got too full?

[Rhythm Thief]

ASC1951 said:

No. Deal with it the same way that low-cost airlines use market forces. Their first seats are the cheapest and the last are the most expensive.

Have a toll which varies within a wide band. Traffic density is monitored automatically and the toll drops when the M6 gets too full. Set the toll every 15 minutes, say, and display it far enough upstream for people to choose.

It's actually quite straightforward to do.

But the M6 Toll is run as a business, and no business drops its prices when demand is at its peak.