Road Congestions Charges

[Andy]

The mimimum spend for a ticket for the Trafford though will be high because they will not want to make a loss and will want to get people into a lot of various shops to keep up the rent costs. When I lived in Ormskirk the Safeway there charged a minimum of £7.50 on a Saturday at the supermarket to get out to stop students abusing the system and the queues were horrendous at all times, especially peak hours.

Also, thinking about it, the Trafford may become much more of a nightmare to get in and out of because it will surely need a human (or a super-dooper computer with a perceptive scan) to operate this system and that will mean massive queues. Think about how long a queue is just in an average car park at Manchester after a theatre performance - 7 minutes minimum because of the volume of people. The amount of people leaving the Trafford regularly is like this so these queues are bound to increase unless loads of machines / gateways with human operators are put in. I might be going down the wrong route here because I am not that up-to-date on roadside technology but isn't that the only way to do it because individual shops surely won't do it as it will be a massive headache for them.

[stimpsonslostson]

More fun for motorists I think that Mike and I will escape fairly lightly not sure what everyone else drives. (Al should be OK too, they dont charge for Flintstones cars).
p

[johnriley1uk]

Hmm, our Meriva 1.6 is going to go from £175.00 to £250.00, plus the congestion charge problem when it arrives, it looks like being fleeced to me.

[stimpsonslostson]

There is an alternative Cycling... Well written article about attitudes of different road users to cyclists.
Having driven vans, cars and obviously cycled I agree with the vast majority of whats said here. Cyclists MUST stop going thru red lights- I've personally seen 4 get wiped out by cars and busses for this in the past 2years, I'm pretty sure one died (and I bet the driver was blamed- it wasn;t his fault, but he'll have to live with it).

However, as a careful cyclist (one who follows the rules of the road- not just the ones that suit me), I often feel like its a battle to get anywhere. I've been hit 3times in Manchester- snapping one bike inhalf (broadsided by a car- which then didn't stop! So I got the plate and she got a ban), getting road rash and a cracked helmet (stop sniggering. Car stopped in a jam and passenger door opened into cycle lane- I went over the bars AND the door and landed on my head), and pulling every muscle in my shoulder (after a bus clipped me). I'm constantly faced with motorists not using their left side mirrors and just pulling in on me. It wears thin after a while, and I confess I can get a bit irate at times. (ANYONE surprised by that news?)
p

[Mike]

Not really! I am thinking of trying the cycling to work every day next week. Might be good to get the fitness levels back up again for our mammoth badminton sessions!

[John Knight]

Wow we escaped pretty lightly on the old CO2's only going up £5 this year and £5 yr after! get in. Not bad for a hot hatch.

[Mike]

I think mine stays about the same. Will wait until November to be absolutely sure though.

[BarcelonAl]

Looks like we're getting a referendum on the whole congestion charge thing! Article here.

[Mike]

I think that a vote would be interesting. I wonder how it would go. I suspect badly but I don't really know. The M.E.N online poll was pretty negative. However, I wonder how many of the negatives would actually get out to vote!

[stimpsonslostson]

At the risk of being shot down in flames... I actually think its an OK idea- I'm more concerned about the way its implemented. Didsbury is crammed with people driving short and unnecessary journeys -the school run mums being a particular nightmare for anyone on a bike around 0830-0900, however they're not going to get caught. Also why not use traffic cameras to catch people driving in alone? Discounts for full cars? Penalties for trips of less than 2miles?

The proposed tram route down barlowmoor road from chorlton to didsbury also being of special concern. Thats a HUGE disruption to an already congested route. Good time to be an engineer tho.
p

[BarcelonAl]

Well as it won't actually affect me working out in Notlob, I am sort of sitting on the fence. If the proposed improvements to the public transport system do come to fruition then it'll be great for everyone living in and around Manchester, however I can see some of the more expensive projects being shelved or delayed (can't see how that tram down Barlow Moor Road is going to work for example!). What is annoying is that once the loan has been paid back (£1.5 billion I believe) out of the fees, what will any additional money be used for? To me it just seems like yet another tax on motorists at the end of the day...and we pay enough cash out already!

[Mike]

I am not going to shoot down in flames. However, we already have a system for providing money to upkeep the road network and bring in necessary improvements. I don't see how this additional surcharge is anything more than a revenue drive for the largest corporation in the country.

Also my main problem with this is that 60% of the revenue goes to administer the system. That is just WRONG!

[Mike]

Here is an interesting article about what would have happened if the Gulf has enforced an Oil embargo on the USA in 1948. It makes for some interesting reading although no one will ever know if it would have been true or not!

[Mike]

MEN is reporting that the question to be asked in the Referendum in Manchester is 'Do you agree with the proposals?' Fairly obscure if you ask me!

Oh and does anyone else want to punch those smug gits in the advert who say 'The congestion charge won't effect me when I go to the Match on Saturday' or 'Because I get the train'. Blah. Fundamentally Congestion Charging is WRONG, I don't care if I won't pay. In fact I know I won't because I do get the train but that does not mean I should not stand up for what I believe to be right.

Okay. I don't want to punch them but each time I do think "Smug git".

[mr_e]

I agree with the whole "better public transport" side of it, but I'm not sure about the way in which it's being done. I'll need to read those proposals properly as I want to find out if that "60% on administration" figure is still correct, and see some guarantees that the revenues will be ear-marked for transport improvements and not go into a general budget.