Location Transport

labour say they are going to go ahead with road pricing because?

there is no alternative,if they really where that concerned about congestion and enviroment issuses,surley they would make Public transport better and cheaper. To travel 3 miles (for 3 of us ) by bus to the local shops where i live ,would cost me £6.30 return. and to travel to London would cost £200 return by train for the 3 of us. they know we will use our cars anyway so is this another stealth tax. Any views on this?

Public Comments

1. In London we have road pricing (congestion charge) and increasingly good public transport. It's not perfect, but much better than it was and improving. The public transport is too expensive although if you get an Oyster card it is much cheaper. I'm an old git so I get FREE TRAVEL after 9:30 am. Lucky old me!
2. its easier for them to tax the system already in place then it is to start the necessary improvements to public transport. It is another tax but there is nothing stealthy about it. as usual they plan to go ahead in the face of public disapproval. this is going to cripple our haulage industry which already has a tough time competing and what about minicabs and black cabs? its a joke, you'll have to pay more to use poorly maintained and overcongested roads. well done Mr Blair, another failure for your legacy.
3. I dont know who they think they are kidding. in the central london congestion charge zone, the level of congestion is exactly the same now as before the charge was introduced. Therefore, it isnt working at all to ease congestion and should be scrapped. They know we are going to use our cars and so bleed us dry at every chance they get
4. I don't like the idea of having a tracker fitted to my car for a starters, it is an invasion of my privacy and i am going to refuse and let them take me to court. To be quite honest i don't think improving public transport would solve the problem either as it will never be as convenient as ownership of a car. We have to join together and not let this crazy scheme come to fruition even if it means civil unrest with rioting in the streets
5. I totally agree with you. I wouldn't mind so much if I thought that the money would be used to improve public transport but we all know it won't. I mean where does all the road tax money go? The Government are very good at introducing new taxes and telling us, "it's for your own good", or "for the good of the environment". It's just another opportunity for them to screw more money from the British public.
6. It is a con by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to Stealth Tax us all - Congestion is made up of numerous factors including the fact that road works (which are continual in this country) cause a vast amount of problems! There is a simpler way to cut congestion - A Rainbow Scheme - OR a Number Plate Scheme - The Rainbow scheme would work by removing cars from the road that were a certain colour on a certain day - i.e. Cars in colour bands White to Red/Orange/Yellow Colour cars - no use of public roads on Mondays - Green to Blue - Tuesdays - Purple to Black - Wednesdays - Grey to Silver -Thursdays - Something like that - BUT they wouldn't accept it - because all of a sudden, it couldn't be managed and wouldn't raise taxes- Second option Number plate scheme - Even numbers can use roads monday - wednesday - friday -- odd numbers tuesday - wednesday -saturday -- ON Sunday all cars can use roads. Of course this only applies to roads suffering from the so called congestion and City Centres - traffic would be cut instantly but again - they would not go for it because they can't bleed the money from your pocket! Tony Blair has already said that he appreciates the nearly 2,000,000 people signing the petition against this tax but he's going to go after it anyway - jus proves he doesn't listen to his people - Like ALL labour politicians!
7. Its just another way to keep there beady eye on us ....I think its about time people showed New Labour what they thought and organised a few mass protests and hit them where it hurts...in the pocket! National strikes sound like a good idea to me! They aren't going to listen to anyone ...what makes you think 1600000 signatures are going to change Tony's mind ,I don't think he has one !but Gordon wouldn't be too happy with the financial consequences of loosing a days tax's
8. It's a stealth tax and I find it amazing how we are being forced to pay for the development of a police state. We are getting the police state because of a failure of the traditional police to enforce the law properly. Our government has decided that properly funding the police to make them effective is far too reactionary. The UK has never been a libertarian place so we get stateist left-liberal solutions instead. The police state will bring down crime without the traditional presumption of innocence for ordinary people. We are all being watched in the UK now. One false move and they've got you.
9. Yes, so they say. Another con to get yet more tax!! Public transport is a joke,and they know it. Most of the money they collect from motorists is NOT used for roads or public transport!! If one lives in an area where public transport is almost non-existent,how do we get to work? There are no buses/trains to where my other half works till after 9am,he starts at 7am!!! As you rightly point out,the cost of public transport is ridiculously high. It seems everyone is out to rob us blind. No wonder we are called "Rip off Britain" by tourists!!!!!! The government, who say there is no other way to tackle congestion, I say “Nonsense”. Try phasing traffic lights to help traffic flows for a change. Try removing some of the bollards and barriers which have been put in to cut road capacity. Try putting some right hand turning lanes at busy junctions to help the flows. Try widening dangerous and jammed junctions. Try stopping so many Council and Highways Authority roadworks. Try completing the trunk road and motorway network, which still has pinch points and glaring holes in it. Try expanding rail capacity.!!!!!
10. Its just another tax sponge sucking as much money out of us as they can. We pay enough already and if the government really wanted to ease congestion and help the environment they would improve public transport and make it cheaper as you say, this would surely help. The sinister idea of making us pay for a black box to put into our cars so they can track our every movement is just the same as proposed I.D cards and National Health database. This is Big Brother, all they want to do is control us in every aspect of life. This is the way totalitarian governments operate.
11. What about the unemployment this is going to create.I cannot see employers paying this charge to get their employees into work.I travel 40miles per day on the M1 to get to my work.If the prices quoted are anywhere near correct i could not afford to use my car for work.Public transport would take me 2 hrs each way.That would give me a 16 hr day.The only alternative then is the dole.Will i be penalised I.E loss of benefit because i couldn't afford to travel to work? Nice one Mancunian agree with a lot you say.Especially about the road freight.Why not build more container depots outside of towns and citys to get waggons off motorways.1 waggon = about 4 cars on motorways.
12. I think it is all about extra revenue, there are a lot of other ways to cut down on traffic such as increasing the age to drive, putting it up to 21, and at the other end of the scale cease driving at 70. Another way is to take all vehicles over 10 years old off the road. The government should also raise the road fund license on cars over 2000cc by a considerate amount, that would help to offset the country's fuel bill. More road freight onto the railways. there must be other ways that i haven't mentioned to sort out the traffic problem, there should be more thought given to it