A MASSIVE congestion charge scheme for Greater Manchester is revealed by the M.E.N. today.
Drivers face paying up to é6 a day - around é1,500 a year - to use the area's busiest roads.
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a PDF map of the proposed congestion routes...
The actual amount paid would depend on which roads are used and for what distance, with those travelling at peak times facing the highest fees. The charging zones would be aimed not only at the heart of Manchester but traffic hotspots across the region.
Transport chiefs plan to charge motorists to use roads on and around 15 of the most heavily-used `corridors' spreading out from the city centre across Greater Manchester.
The charges would be introduced on several of the corridors initially, then imposed gradually across the region. The proposals have been drawn up to try to close a funding gap to allow the `Big Bang' extension of the Metrolink tram system to go ahead by tapping into a é1bn government fund for jam-busting schemes.
Satellite technology
Cars would be fitted with satellite technology or windscreen-mounted `tags' that could be tracked automatically by electronic scanners positioned at key points along each corridor.
Motorists would also have the option of pre-paying for a day pass based on how many scanners they will be driving past. Number plate recognition cameras could be used to catch and fine those trying to cheat the system.
No price has been set but it is understood any charging regime would be no more expensive than London, where motorists pay é8 a day to enter a zone in and around the city centre.
Sources close to the Greater Manchester project suggest the peak charge could be é3 for every scanner passed, with up to two scanners on each corridor route - giving a journey total of é6 or about é1,500 a year.
Motorists using the routes at off-peak times, or for shorter journeys, would be charged much less - and possibly not at all.
Reliable
The Greater Manchester scheme would not come into force until 2010 at the earliest and transport chiefs have pledged it will only go ahead on routes which have regular, reliable and economic public transport.
The plans, drawn up by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive - GMPTE - can only go ahead if backed by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities on Friday.
If given the green light they will be worked up in detail and used as the basis of a bid to government for money from the é1bn Transport Innovation Fund (TIF).
That money - reserved for towns and cities that introduce congestion charges - could cover the é400m funding gap GMPTE needs to close in order to complete the Big Bang tram-line extensions to Manchester Airport, Rochdale town centre and Ashton under Lyne.
Currently the government has agreed to fund only a "Little Bang" to St Weburgh's Road, Rochdale rail station and Droylsden - and then only after a massive M.E.N-led campaign to get the cash. The 15 corridors run out from Manchester as far as the airport and satellite towns including Leigh, Rochdale, Wigan, Stockport, Rochdale and Bury.
The proposal for Greater Manchester is that the highest charges would be reserved for those using the most heavily-congested routes at the busiest times.
Pilot groups
Initially only a small pilot group of motorists would see their cars fitted with satellite-based technology, which would allow administrators to track exactly when and where they were travelling and charge them accordingly. Of the rest, some would pay in advance for day passes and the rest would use the tags.
GMPTE would want to move everyone to the satellite-based system `as soon as possible'. The plans have been drawn up not only to access the TIF money but also for economic and environmental reasons.
Since 1997, there has been a 13 per cent increase in overall car travel in Greater Manchester and the GMPTE believes congestion is about to reach a `tipping point' where it has a negative impact on the regional economy. Their intelligence suggests it could cost Greater Manchester 30,000 of the 210,000 jobs expected to be created in the region by 2021.
There has also been an increase in carbon emissions and the number of times local concentrations of nitrogen dioxide exceed environmental targets.
*YOU can also watch a video to see what some of the city's drivers and commuters feel about the charge too. Tweet
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Fine i will take the congestion charges and £2.20 per hour after hours parking in Manchester once my boss ups my salery in line with London....I get paid monthly, work two jobs, i dont have a social life, and at the end of the month i am lucky to have 50p in my bank account, how the hell am i supposed to manage £240 a month congestion charges. I may as well give up my job and sign on the dole.
These road and parking charges are excellent news for those of us involved in business and commerce beyond the grasp of the working class man and woman who use these valuable parking places and road space just in order to fill their boots with plastic bags full of shell suits and plimsolls or to visit their city centre drinking dens.
The blue collar worker just does not realise that the wheels of commerce and finance never stop turning in order to keep them in employment and by occupying prime city centre parking places and creating road congestion they are preventing very important visiting executives from parking close to companies they are conducting business with or restaurants and theatres where we hold very important business dinners.
Hopefully these charges will deter the working class from travelling into our extremely busy city centre with their motor cars and vans and encourage them to use the public transport which is provided for them.
Thus enabling business executives to drive safely and quickly around the city and park their very valuable motor cars close to their destinations.
is the metrolink expansion really worth it ?? if it the council/government should pay not the motorist. we're not london where they are using the olympic games to fund their transport problems
"Transport chiefs have pledged it will only go ahead on routes which have regular, reliable and economic public transport."
So that's never, then...?
Why not just put a big sign up saying: This is Manchester. Keep out - or else..."
greed greed greed, this isnt going to keep inflation down is it.what about the chinese,100 new airports being built so it can t be a green issue can it,ive had enough of this govermentget them out
Great! keep the working classes off the roads! I cannot believe they're still talking of congestion charges. I for one, won't be able to afford to work if these come into force. Just what is the 'real' reason this?
Why does everything have to cost the motorist more?
If we even had a half decent public transport system I'd think about leaving the car at home. No extra cost will make me stand at a bus stop waiting for ages!
GMPTE aren't elected by us so should not be able to enforce then on us- they don't even own the roads!!
Richard Everard, you disgust me. Maybe we should put a toll on the outskirts of Hale Barnes and force you and your lot to stick to your own 'patch'. Manchester on the whole is a working class city, and remember it is the majority that keep the minority like you in your position.There comes a point when you start to think what is the point in working if every penny you earn goes on tax and stealth taxes. However I would love to see you cleaning your office toilets though, when there is no one else to do it !!!
its going to penalise people who need to drive for work as well as those who commute to work. the way to reduce the level of commuting is improve public transport. simple. and that includes making public transport reliable, cheap, comprehensive, safe and frequent. go to europe and they have better public transport. go the third world countries and they have better public transport. people will still drive when public transport is in the state it is.
Well I have no idea how I will be able to afford this. I have no alternative really because the trains are unreliable and I am not taking a bus to work that goes through Moss Side - last time I did that (10 years ago) I got mugged and intimidated by some little scrotes on the top deck, and as a result have never used a bus in this country since
Richard Everard, Hale Barns, Cheshire
What self centred, egotistical views you really have are you the king of Manchester or something?
If we all refuse to pay it, they'll have their knickers in such a convoluted twist, they'd have to think again. Richard Everard sounds like he has a terrific ironic sense of humour, I hope.
I do hope Richard Everard is a joke - he certainly sounds like one.
Richard Everard, you must be having a joke right? You boast of knowledge about the wheels of commerce yet with your ignorance you totally contradict yourself.
Back to business school for you my friend!
Well what happens if you accidently take the wrong turning down these roads! You know it can happen and its hard to get off, u gotta then pay £8 cos your on these congestion roads! There robbing us!
This is all down to those people that regularly use the M6 Toll Road. Had people refused to pay no congestion charges would have been thought of. Australia have the same problem and again there was uproar but as sson as the system was introduced people paid and it's the way of life over there (Melbourne City Link). Unfortunatley it will happen.
Some very difficult decisions need to be made but the city fathers need to be realistic. London and it's congestion charge are unique. Cities like Manchester, despite the recent and welcome resurgence, are still brittle to wrong decision making. Something has to be done to combat pollution but who likes travelling on public transport, especially at night? Leeds, Liverpool and Birmigham are not far away to attract workers, shoppers and socializers. The council need to think very very very carefully before they make up their mind.
So they have pledged this charge will only go ahead on routes that have regular reliable and economic public transport so does that mean no charges for using roads to get onto the M60 and using it. Or do they expect us to leave our cars near the motorway junction of an evening catch a bus home then on one again in the morning back to the car, what a joke this will never work it is just another tax, come on Manchester council admit it?
I may be a lone voice, but I actually approve of these plans. Anyone who drives down the M56 each day cannot help but realise that the huge congestion on that strech of road must be hurting the local economy, meaning fewer people have job oppurtunites in the area. Have a look around at how many cars have more than one person in them - as soon as people have to pay for the roads, which are in very limited supply, they'll start to reconsider their jounreys. Can they car share, can they start work at a different time, can they make use of public transport, can they work from home? Only a very small percentage of people changing their driving habbits, whether is be making the kids get the bus to school instead of giving them a lift, will make a huge difference. With the added benifit of Metrolink I am very pro this policy. Let us not forget also, that this policy is planned to be rolled out nationwide soon, as such, all cities will be doing the same, the only difference being that they will not have had access to the £1bn TiF to improve their public transport as we will.
It won't get me onto public transport. I've used buses whilst I've not been in work, and the journey into Manchester is a nightmare.
1) Full of students with coughs and colds spreading germs.
2) People wearing rucksacks or carrying large bags knocking your head off when they pass you.
3) Mothers with children in trolleys blocking the exit to the bus - they should be made to take the trolley's down (as they did a few years ago)
4) People shouting at each other across the bus or on a mobile phone.
No I'll be staying in the sanctuary of my car away from the madness.
"The charges won't cost more than those in London" !!!!!!! Well, let's start with an increase in salaries to match those in London to pay for it then. I'll wager the times will start at 7.00am to catch more or less everybody going to work so we will all have to travel at 6.30am to avoid the charges. We need a backlash over this. If there is enough opposition, they will struggle bringing this in. Remember the poll tax and how that finished off the Tories ? It can happen again to any other Goverment.
People do not want any form of tolls or so called "congestion charging".
All these charges achieve is to take more money from drivers which is then wasted in administration. The London charge of £8 a day, costs £5 to collect and enforce."
There is a petition to the PM against all these charges. You can find it by putting into Google:
scrap all tolls petition
I have two points to make. The first being that I work on the public transport in Manchester and work shift so I could be starting at 6 in the morning when public transport is near enough non existent and what there is is very slow,taking near enough 50 minutes by bus compared to 25 to 30 minutes by car!!! So i don't really have a choice.
Secondly this is to fund the Merolink! Do people not realise that the rail system they have got now is far better than Metrolink and money should be invested into the heavy rail instead of the light rail network. These are my reasons for this as on the trams mothers with prams have to take their bayb out of the prams and fold up the prams before getting on the tram, push bikes are not allowed, you are not allowed to consume food or drink on the trams, at the moment you can by a ticket from Oldham booking office that can take you straight through to Cardiff. This will not be so when Metrolink arrives you will have to by a ticket to Manchester and then que up again to buy a ticket to Cardiff. No when Metrolink comes to Oldham yes it will be new vehicles but it will be a step back I am dreading the day when Metrolink arrives.
just wondering are londoners on higher wages than us? if so then why should we be charged no MORE than london?? if anything at all. also public transport is the worst in europe!!!
That should keep the MCC in nice hotels for a few years? Why dosnt the council come up with other ideas "promote car sharing schemes " or just put a ban on cars entering the centre and give very cheap bus travel from designated parking spots from around the city centre.