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Drivers who cross the River Tamar from Cornwall into Devon may have to pay 50p more from next year.

The Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee has issued 25,000 leaflets to bridge and ferry users about the proposed toll increase.

The 50% rise, scheduled for December 2009, is the first cash toll rise since 1994 and will bring the cost to ^1.50.

The committee said many routine costs had increased year on year, often at a faster rate than inflation.

Discounted prepaid tolls will also rise from 50p to 75p.

Are they going to use the extra money to double track the rail bridge?

Town councillors in Cornwall want plans for a 50% increase in toll charges to cross the River Tamar to be reviewed.

At a meeting on Thursday night, Saltash Town Council recommended the 50% rise should be reviewed and should not be such a substantial increase.

An increase in bridge and ferry tolls enabling drivers to cross between Devon and Cornwall has come into force - with car drivers having to pay a 50% rise.
The increase in costs to use the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint ferries was approved by the government following a public inquiry in January.
Car drivers now have to pay ^1.50 - and regular users with a Tamar Tag are charged 75p instead of 50p.
The rises are the first since 1994 and also affect goods vehicles and coaches.
The crossings are jointly run by Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council through the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee.
The committee has said in the past that a rise was "essential" because without it the gap between income and spending was expected to be ^2.5m a year by 2011-12, as the routine costs of maintaining the crossings had increased. It also said that it recognised a price increase was "particularly unwelcome" but that a rise had been deferred "for as long as possible".
However, John McGoldrick, of the National Alliance Against Tolls, said he was disappointed that the toll increases were approved and then enforced with such speed. "Bridge users will be shocked that this whacking increase in tolls has been implemented so quickly," he said. "Those who realise that the cost of building the bridge was paid off many years ago, and that the tolls are now used to subsidise the losses on the ferry, will also feel that there is no justice in this system. It is long past the time that the bridge tolls were removed and traffic allowed to flow freely."

River Tamar bridge and ferry tolls 'may increase'

Tolls for the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry between Devon and Cornwall could increase because fewer people are using them, managers say.

The routes at Plymouth see about 50,000 vehicles using the bridge on an average weekday and 8,000 vehicles on the ferry during a busy weekday.

Manager said that traffic levels had dropped by about 5%, recently.

The toll for cars and vans is ^1.50, with larger vehicles charged more. Tolls last went up in March 2009.

No figures of how much tolls could increase by have been published.

Councillor Martin Leaves, of Conservative-led Plymouth City Council, who is also joint chairman of the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Committee, said it was "unclear why traffic volume had dropped".

"It could be because people are being more environmentally aware and not travelling, or maybe they are using the [further north] A30 instead," he said.

"If that gets any worse, we would have look at whether we should increase the tolls."

The committee, which is run by Plymouth City Council and Cornwall Council, said it was monitoring the situation before it decided on any rises.

When the tolls were last increased in 2009, they went up by 50%, from ^1 to ^1.50. It was the first rise since 1994.

Then axe the M6 Toll and get the whole West Midlands moving again. It's scandalous that fuming motorists sit in long traffic queues, belching out fumes, whilst there are 6 empty lanes of traffic with the odd BMW whizzing past at 90mph.

The tolls should be axed. Fleeced motorists pay enough already. Let's get this economy moving again!

Same with the Severn Bridge Tolls, which are effectively a tax for entering Wales, suppressing growth and draining the local economy.

Then axe the M6 Toll and get the whole West Midlands moving again. It's scandalous that fuming motorists sit in long traffic queues, belching out fumes, whilst there are 6 empty lanes of traffic with the odd BMW whizzing past at 90mph.

Think how much house prices and the value of businesses would soar if the tolls were to go!

As for increasing the tolls - daylight robbery. An attempt to suffocate South East Cornwall and cut it off from the rest of the UK.

Scotland can afford it, and the economic benefits would far outweigh the loss of revenue, most of which is profit and lines the pockets of the bridge companies.

Notable recent projects include :

^ strengthening and widening of the Tamar Bridge between 1999 and 2001 at a cost of approximately ^35 million

^ replacement of the three Torpoint Ferries in 2005 and 2006 and associated shore works at a cost of approximately ^19 million

^ Tamar Bridge Toll Plaza Refurbishment and the Introduction of Electronic Toll Collection in 2006, together costing approximately ^4.5 million

The Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry remain critical components of the region's transport infrastructure helping to safeguard the economic wellbeing of Plymouth and South East Cornwall.

DM - the last time I looked, the many ex-toll bridges in Scotland haven't collapsed due to a lack of maintenance! Instead, there has been a boom in the local economies, and people can move around, do business and these areas are more competitive.

Would you care to let us know where exactly you looked to come to those conclusions.

Scrapping bridge toll adds half an hour to road misery across the Forth

Traffic congestion around the Forth Road Bridge has soared since the abolition of tolls, according to new figures compiled by vehicle monitoring experts.

In the five-day period leading up to the scrapping of northbound tolls by the Government on February 11, the peak morning rush hour during weekdays extended to 61 minutes. But in the five days after the payments were abolished, it stretched to an average 91 minutes ^ lengthening journey times ^ according to surveys taken by road monitoring group Trafficmaster.

The increase occurred even though three of the days surveyed were part of the school half-term holidays in southern Scotland, when traffic is traditionally expected to be lighter.

The figures will fuel the debate over the impact of road tolls on congestion, suggesting that charges do discourage drivers from using their cars.

They also suggest that experts who told the Government last August that scrapping the tolls would worsen traffic congestion were correct.

Their advice was ignored by SNP Finance Secretary John Swinney, who said the economic benefits of removing the tolls would outweigh the disadvantages.

To get the congestion statistics, Trafficmaster cameras recorded the length of the time period at which traffic was travelling at less than 30mph at Junction 2 of the M90 to the north of the bridge.

It said the increase indicated that commuters and other travellers are now abandoning public transport and taking their vehicles into Edinburgh to take advantage of the falling cost.

"Congestion has increased since abolition of the tolls," said a spokesman. "It was thought that removing the tolls would speed up traffic but this does not seem to have been the case."

Although construction costs were paid off in 1993, the tolls since then have funded the bridge's maintenance costs.

The previous Labour-Lib Dem coalition Government rejected scrapping tolls on the grounds that their removal would increase congestion as well as lose about 20m in revenue ever year. Instead, in a plan backed by former First Minister Jack McConnell, drivers would have been able to escape paying tolls if they had more than one passenger in their vehicle.

Last month, Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson signed an order marking the end of tolls on both the Forth and Tay bridges, a move that angered Green campaign groups.

Patrick Harvie, the Green Party's transport spokesman, said: "The right approach would have been smart charges (shared car use]. As predicted, simply removing the tolls has encouraged a shift to car use and away from public transport, and the result is 50% more congestion and frustration, which damages the economy, the environment and people's health."

Evidence of the effect of removing tolls emerged after they were scrapped on the Skye Bridge in 2004. Traffic volumes rose by 50% without any significant positive impact on businesses and employment, according to the Skye Bridge Socio Economic Impact Study.

The Forth Estuary Transport Authority, which operates the bridge, said it was too early to tell what effect the removal of the tolls was having on congestion.

A Scottish Government spokesman said the removal of tolls had been widely welcomed across Scotland, and added: "It can take some time for traffic flows to settle into new patterns and it is therefore difficult to sensibly measure any long-term changes."

Waiting game

Irrespective of tolls, the Forth Road Bridge still has a limited lifespan.

Investigations in 2004 found significant corrosion, resulting in a loss of strength of up to 10%. Experts agree that, if the corrosion cannot be halted, weight restrictions may have to be introduced as early as 2013.

A full dehumidification system will be in operation by late next year but it will be 18 months before engineers can determine whether the technique has been effective.

In the meantime, the Scottish Government has agreed in principle to build a new road bridge across the Forth at a cost of 4.2bn.

Evidence of the effect of removing tolls emerged after they were scrapped on the Skye Bridge in 2004. Traffic volumes rose by 50% without any significant positive impact on businesses and employment, according to the Skye Bridge Socio Economic Impact Study.

Just how many toll have been scrapped in Scotland.  I was only aware of one - the Skye Bridge.

Tamar crossing tag fee could rise by 80p a month

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A consultation, which has just started, will run until 7 November

Drivers who buy electronic tags to cut the cost of crossing between Cornwall and Devon could be charged 80p a month more under new proposals.

The committee that runs the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint ferry said it was facing a shortfall of up to ^1m a year.

It is looking at increasing the charge for a Tamar Tag which currently allows drivers to cross for half the usual ^1.50 fee.

A public consultation has started and will run until 7 November.

The tolls at the two crossings were last increased in March 2010, with the Tamar Tag electronic payment scheme being introduced in 2007.

A spokesperson for the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint ferry joint committee said it was the second largest such system in the UK (after Dartford) with some 95,000 tags issued against 65,000 accounts.

The committee is looking at introducing the new fee from April 2014.

The Joint Committee of councillors that governs the crossings believes that the fairest and most efficient solution is to introduce a monthly TamarTag account fee of 80p from April 2014.