Toll roads can work - M6 motorway report

The M6 Toll road, which opened in 2003 and was intended to relieve congestion has been branded ineffective and an expensive answer to traffic problems.

A report by the Campaign for Better Transport claims the M6 Toll is losing its operator, Midland Expressway, millions of pounds a year and has not significantly reduced congestion. The cost of using the road has risen above inflation each year, but has nonetheless lost the toll operator an estimated £26 million a year since the road opened.

The M6 Toll is a 27-mile privately-financed motorway that runs between junctions 3a and 12 of the M6.

Speaking in defence of toll roads on BBC Breakfast yesterday, director of the Environmental Transport Association (ETA), Andrew Davis, said: “Tolls that vary in price to take into account the congestion at a particular time of day as well as the weight of a vehicle would be a more sophisticated and equitable alternative to the vehicle excise duty and petrol tax we have now.”

What is road-user charging?

This charge is simply a method of charging the motorist for the use of the road. At present the use of the road network is free.

A motorist driving an electric car pays no tax or charge for using the roads – no fuel tax because on petrol is used and no vehicle excise duty because electric vehicles are zero rated. But electric vehicles still use roads and roads are valuable. Indeed a motorist driving a standard family car pays around £900 a year not for using the roads but for having a vehicle and for using petrol – quite a different thing.

What would the motorist be paying for?

There are any number of aspects that a motorist could be charged for using a road: damage to the road surface (track charges); noise; speed of travel; producing noxious gases; producing climate change gases; and most importantly access or use of roads at busy times.

How would the motorist be charged?

There are many ways in which a motorist could be charged. A simple method would be a carnet or window sticker which gives the motorist access to certain roads, for example, all cars entering Switzerland have to pay for a carnet either before they enter via the internet or at the border. Tolls to cross bridges or use sections of motorways are commonly found across the world. These methods involve payment at toll booths laid across the road and often apply at any given time of day. Lorry drivers in Austria, Cheskia and Germany are tracked by satellite and charged per mile. Most people imagine a national British system would involve a satellite tracking process with drivers being sent a monthly statement of all their journeys. This is possible but not necessary. The charge in Stockholm is levied as a vehicle passes under a beacon in the road which reads the number plate. Drivers are sent a bill which must be paid within fourteen days.

In Britain we could use a system whereby the car, knowing where it was using its own global positioning device deducts an amount from an allocated mobile telephone. This system is the cheapest to introduce and means neither the government nor other members of the household need know where the driver has travelled.

• Why is road user charging important?