The incident also exposes more than a little hypocrisy amongst
Welsh politicians.
A number of those now decrying the idea of tolling any new
motorway have previously said that they favour retaining tolls on the two Severn
bridges, and setting those tolls at a level which is higher than the
maintenance costs in order to generate an income stream which can be used for
other capital projects. It’s a tax by
any other name. I struggle to understand
why a toll to get round one obstacle (the Severn estuary) is such a good idea
that it should be turned into a tax, whilst a toll to get round another
obstacle (Newport) would be unworkable and an economic disaster. At the very least, they're being inconsistent. One is left wondering if the only great
'principle' behind their position here is 'What
can we get away with?'.
Tolls for using roads are certainly an unpopular idea, but
I'm not convinced that they’re always and necessarily a bad idea. It depends on the economic hinterland and
what we’re trying to achieve.
In an economy which is highly centralised and which depends
on long supply chains and frequent long distance movement of goods and people,
and in which some areas are central whilst others are peripheral, road tolls
will never look sensible when viewed from the perspective of the
periphery. It’s just another cost which
stands in the way of economic development in Wales. And since that is the only economic model of
which most of our politicians can conceive, any tolls look like a bad plan for
Wales.
On the other hand, if we had a more localised economy, or at
least a plan to move towards one, tolls which disincentivised long centralised
supply chains could actually help to drive things further in the right
direction, by making it cheaper and easier to stay local. Tolls can also encourage people to use other
modes of transport (and indeed, it's surely at least possible, if part of the
problem at Brynglas is the high percentage of vehicles using the M4 for short
local trips, that a toll on the relevant part of the existing M4 might actually
do quite a lot to relieve the pressure without building a very expensive new
road).
So for me, the problem with the proposal for tolls (or
non-proposal as it turns out) isn't with the tolls themselves, it's with the
economic model under which we live, and the utter unwillingness of the
politicians to envision or pursue an alternative. Change that, and my response might be very
different.
But from either perspective, I still don't understand why
charging a higher than necessary toll to cross a bridge is such a good idea
when charging a toll elsewhere is such a bad one – that doesn't make sense
under either economic model. It’s
amazing that so many politicians seem to be getting away with holding such a
contradictory and inconsistent position.
Posts
3 comments:
"if part of the problem at Brynglas is the high percentage of vehicles using the M4 for short local trips, that a toll on the relevant part of the existing M4 might actually do quite a lot to relieve the pressure without building a very expensive new road".
Presumably people aren't taking these "short trips" for their pleasure, they are going somewhere for a reason. If you force them off the M4 with a toll, then which other route will they use? This suggestion seems to me to be simply a means of moving the congestion from the M4 to somewhere else. Good for strategic transport but a bit tough on the local area.
If you assume that all journeys made by car would continue to be made by car, then your logic is close to impeccable. But don't forget that the alternative to spending all that money on a second M4 around Newport also includes the possibility of spending a much smaller sum on enhancing public transport which creates other options.
But I wasn't actually advocating the introduction of selected tolls around Newport; that comment was something of an aside to the main point.
John
The problem with the Severn bridges is simply one of long term economics
The first crossing is perhaps at a stage where its maintenance costs are starting to outstrip its revenue generation ie tolls. As with nuclear power station decommissioning the end life of major structures are always forgotten often conveniently so Without too much diversion --what is the cost of replacing the Severn tunnel certainly not the cost of bricking up either end
There is no doubt that the M4 in the greater Newport area is widely used by purely local traffic often with immense impact on through traffic in both directions
As far as tolls are concerned the original toll roads failed because the revenue was always syphoned of to finance other spending activity and not in modern parlance ring fenced for road maintenance. And yes those on the periphery both geographically and financially paid the most
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