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31/08/2010
Toll roads are not a cost-effective method of congestion relief, according to a new report from a sustainable transport group.
In a report on the M6 Toll - the UK's only private motorway toll road - the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT), claims that previously promised benefits of lowering congestion and speeding up journey times "have failed to materialise or have been wiped out by above-average increases in traffic".
Vehicles that once used the toll road have steadily returned to the M6 over the five years since it was opened, says the group, which examined Highways Agency data compiled since the road opened at the end of 2003. Congestion is now worse at either end of the toll, CBT highlights - though it notes that average journey times have come down, particularly during peak times.
Overall, the report found that traffic in the West Midlands had not improved on account of the scheme. In addition, CBT says that Midland Expressway Ltd, the company which runs the toll road, has lost £26 million each year.
The campaign has concluded that the Government should not pursue the model of privately financed road schemes - a possibility discussed in May by The Telegraph newspaper, which reported that ministers were considering selling off the motorway and trunk road network to investment bank NM Rothschild.
However, David Bayliss from charity the RAC Foundation told BBC Radio Four's today programme that a road pricing scheme could have benefits - but only as a replacement for the existing tax regime.
"It would control congestion, it would tell us where it's worth expanding the road system... and what's more it would provide the funds to develop the road system and relieve the congestion even further," he added.
Speaking on the same programme, however, Hugh Bladon from the Association of British Drivers warned that using tolls would price the poorest drivers off the road. He also refuted the idea that a system that charged people for the amount they drive would ever wholly replace more traditional methods of taxing drivers.
"Anybody who believes that's likely to happen I'm afraid is just not learning the lessons from past history," he added.
"Without a doubt the price for going on the road will increase all the time, the tax take would therefore increase and it would cost more."
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