Where was this in the election manifesto? PAYG road costs

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

The government is considering replacing road tax and petrol duty with a pay-as-you-go system.

Every vehicle would have a black box to allow a satellite system to track their journey, with prices ranging from 2p per mile on quiet country roads to Â£1.34 on motorways at peak times.

see BBC news item here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4610901.stm

What do you think? just another way for our government to rip us all off even further or a way to save the enviroment ?

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:31 pm

A Bloody rip off def! but I am sure that ther will be some people able to rig the black boxes!

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

the thing that worries me is that as well as being able to tell where your car is at all times, they will be able to work out other things too like how long it takes u to get from A to B IE how fast you are driving, speeding points and fines by GPS.
Also if its anything like the ID card system they want to bring in, WE are going to have to pay for the boxes to be fitted and at what cost ?

The police will prolly have some sort of detector fitted so they can check a car to make sure the box is working as well as prolly roadside detectors, an operating box will prolly be a MOT requirement
Big Brother is becoming a reality, we already have national surveliance camera's, speed camera's, tax disc cameras, bus lane cameras, congestion charge camera's, there are even cameras hidden in some forests up and down the country to catch ppl tipping, its going to be where you cant even sneeze in your own home without some camera operator knowing about it and some gov agency fining you for it.

IMO these boxes are an invasion of privacy and personal freedom.

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:48 pm

You are right there Neo, I think a system like this will change the way everybody uses their vehicles. This government is useless always has been, but I have to say I dont think any of the other parties are any good either, I think that for the responsible driver, this will be fine, but everybody speeds, everybody! whether it is momentarily or continuously, if they do use this system to the extremes then I think the provacy bill should be investigated!

Level 10 User Joined: 22 Mar 2005 Posts: 621

I don't like the black box idea but I grudge paying what I pay annually as it is!!!! Between 90 quid for 6mths road tax and then 90p a litre for diesel for the privilege of driving on crap pot-holed roads! The stupid thing is they charge me thru the nose for driving a 1.9 diesel and charge me a few pence extra for diesel but it's still cheaper overall than even the pokey little petrol Corsa I had before!! My car might spit out more "harmful" gases than a petrol car but I can afford to run it which is more than I could do with a petrol one! I also think people like us who drive older cars (generally coz we can't afford a newer car) are being penalised for being skint!

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

another interesting point for you.

Â£42 billion was raised last year by road tax discs
Â£15 billion of that was put back into the road systems and public transport.

what happened to rest ?

prolly went on funding 2 jags prescots fuel bill and a nice few grand payrise for all MP's in the government.

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:16 pm

Thats the line of work to be in then! Bstrds the lot of them, it makes you wonder where they spend the Â£15B though.

Site Subscriber Joined: 01 Feb 2005 Posts: 728

I can confirm that WN! I work for Buckinghamshire County Council in the Highways Dept, and you should see the drop in cash we had this year for road resurfacing and maintenance!

Site Subscriber Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 2317

They won't be in government in 10 years time and if the other parties have an ounce of common sense they'll scrap it. We need answers to road congestion problems and the fuel duty issue now, not in 10-15 years time. The goverment needs to realise that charging motorists more will not mean they'll use their car less.

The only way to solve the nations road problems is through sustained investments and improovements to the roads. That means spending money. Lots of it. Lets have none of this 'use public transport crap; it doesn't even go near my place of work and on top of that, unless you live inside the m25, most of the busses are old and decrepid, not exactly what you want for a 'modern transport system'

Level 10 User Joined: 22 Mar 2005 Posts: 621

I think our youngest bus is 13 years old!

Forum Moderator Joined: 18 Feb 2004 Posts: 7432

huwwatkins wrote:

The only way to solve the nations road problems is through sustained investments and improovements to the roads. That means spending money. Lots of it. Lets have none of this 'use public transport crap; it doesn't even go near my place of work and on top of that, unless you live inside the m25, most of the busses are old and decrepid, not exactly what you want for a 'modern transport system'

Thats not the only way at all. The other way to look at that is for "sustained investments and improvements" to the public transport system so that it is not expensive, cramped, dirty, slow, unreliable etc. That might have some effect on the amount people use their cars.

I can say for sure that I would rather go into town on the bus and not be bothered with traffic, parking etc. if I knew the seats on the bus werent suitable only for midgets and I knew that the poxy thing was going to turn up at all.

Site Subscriber Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 2317

[quote="Neal 19 16v"]

huwwatkins wrote:

Thats not the only way at all. The other way to look at that is for "sustained investments and improvements" to the public transport system so that it is not expensive, cramped, dirty, slow, unreliable etc. That might have some effect on the amount people use their cars.

.

That may be the case in the towns and cities, but its the complete opposite here. Unless you happen to live on a main trunk road you can forget about public transport coming withing miles of your house. Theres no use banging on about public transport if you cant get to it to use it Wink

Forum Moderator Joined: 18 Feb 2004 Posts: 7432

Uh huh, but we're going round in circles.

What if there were more buses and they did come near enough to you to be convenient?

Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2005 3:35 pm

Public transport is shit!.

I commute to London, there are never enough seats for everyone, when there are you get cushed together.

Trains are hardly ever on time, it gets more expensive each year, there are no late services near where I live.

The government has been promising improvements since the year dot but nothing ever comes of it

Do I have to go on,

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

if we packed cattle and sheep into trucks the way we pack humans into trains and tubes during rush hour we would have animal rights agencies kicking up a stink . . .

Forum Moderator Joined: 18 Feb 2004 Posts: 7432

You're right about the tube, it is one of my pet hates.

Site Subscriber Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 2317

Neal 19 16v wrote:

Uh huh, but we're going round in circles.

What if there were more buses and they did come near enough to you to be convenient?

True...but, thing seem to be getting worse not better. One example, there used to be a bus that went up past my place of work and on to the little village beyond. Now that service has been cut and anyone wanting to catch the bus now has to pre book a taxi the day before if they want to get to the bustop. Progress? I think not.

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

like I was saying on another forum assuming I had to pay Â£1 a mile then 2 years ago I would have had to fork out over 50 grand.

This last year about 11 grand.

Thats more than Ambers annual salary.

Do I have to keep tellign you all?

Pack up leave britain, get out of this crap hole.

Site Subscriber Joined: 23 Jan 2005 Posts: 502

Public transport in France Laughing

On strike - if you find one running you'll get your wallet nicked.

Your being beep'ed every time you use your credit card

GSM phone's can pinpoint you down to a local cell.

Big brother is here Twisted Evil

Site Subscriber Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Posts: 1575

yep big brother is here and has been for a few years. they'll probably tie this in with your id cards, id cards could have a transponder and they'll know where you are and what speed you could be doing. Rolling Eyes

or am I synical Question

Forum Moderator Joined: 18 Feb 2004 Posts: 7432

To be fair its not just a Labour thing, any government would be doing the same things given the technology.

The technology is just becoming available and reliable now.