M4 Opening

andyeire

Does anyone have any idea what time the M4 is opening tomorrow 12/12,

ds20prefecture

Is it? Cool! How much is the toll?

Con9903

I think its opening at about 12PM but I'm not certain.
The toll is 2.50 so I certainly wont be using it.

Victor

Watch here for updates. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054851600

The ceremonies tend to be late morning and then a few hours to remove all the cones, fix signage, etc.

PaddyFagan

According to the radio this morning they expect it to be open to the public around 2pm

Saruman

Where are the Tolls exactly? Is it at enfield only or are there booths all along the road?

michaelanthony

Between Kilcock and Enfield.

JackieChan

Initially the toll will be 2.40 but going to 2.50 in three weeks time.

impr0v

I'm leaving for the opening ceremony and reception in about half an hour. If there's something you'd like me to say to Mr. Cullen (though it's rumoured there's been a late change and der fuhrur is opening it instead of him) reply quickly.

Saruman

OK so will it be possible to travel on the M4 from Kinnegad to Enfield, come off without paying a toll and use the old road till it meets up again? Or will you have to pay the toll exiting at enfield? I know no one has actually used it in fairness but some people are "In the know"

BrianD

According to the Irish Times, the Eazy Pass in not compatible with the M4 tolls. Eazy Pass are complaining but it appears that the M4 e-tolling is up ti Euro spec.

loyatemu

Dear Eazy Pass Customer,

The Kilcock-Kinnegad M4 Toll Facility is opening on Monday December 12th. It had been planned that at the time of opening that Eazy Pass customers could pay their toll electronically at that location.

Regrettably, this will not now be possible, and we at Eazy Pass are working with the National Roads Authority to overcome the technical, commercial and administrative challenges involved. While these issues are being addressed, Eazy Pass customers will have to pay cash in order to use the M4 Toll Facility.

It is anticipated that Eazy Pass will be accepted at the M4 Toll Facility in early 2006, and will notify customers in advance.

We trust you will continue to benefit from the use of Eazy Pass at West Link, East Link and the M1.

If you have any queries please call 1890 67 67 68 or email plazainformation@eazypass.ie.

Yours Sincerely,
Eazy Pass Customer Service

michaelanthony

Saruman wrote:

OK so will it be possible to travel on the M4 from Kinnegad to Enfield, come off without paying a toll and use the old road till it meets up again? Or will you have to pay the toll exiting at enfield? I know no one has actually used it in fairness but some people are "In the know"

Pretty sure not as they have a toll plaza ON the Motorway BETWEEN Enfield and Kilcock.

BrianD

It will probably be the same as the M1 where they have tolls on the on/off ramps further down the road.

jwt

There are two sets of tolls

Main ones are on the motorway itself about a mile after the Kilcock junction. These are on both sides of the motorway.


However there are also a set of tolls on the off ramps coming from the west (heading towards Dublin) for the Enfield junction

Logic as follows

Heading from Dublin towards the west you pay the toll just beyond Kilcock
that means you can leave the motorway at Enfield off ramps heading west with no toll barriers or continue to end of motorway at Kinnegad

Heading east towards Dublin if you try to use the off ramp at Enfield you have to use the toll booths on the off ramp.
Or you can continue towards Dublin and pay at the main toll booths


Either way you have to pay.

Where the fun begins is if you are heading towards Dublin and want to stop at Enfield for shopping/coffee you pay to get off the motorway and once you went back on at Enfield (using the same junction) you would pay at Kilcock again to leave the new motorway

NRA have said there will be some sort of temporary pass issued at Enfield toll booth thats good for three hours. So you leave at Enfield, pay your 2.40, are given the pass, have shop/coffee rejoin the motorway and present your pass at the Kilcock toll booth showing ypu've already paid.

How bloody silly can you get



P.S. 2.40 EURO!!!!!!!!!!!!!


What a complete and utter waste of time.

Seth Brundle

jwt wrote:

P.S. 2.40 EURO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It will be €2.50 in the new year!

dingding

Anyone try it out this evening was there much time saved.

murphaph

jwt wrote:

NRA have said there will be some sort of temporary pass issued at Enfield toll booth thats good for three hours. So you leave at Enfield, pay your 2.40, are given the pass, have shop/coffee rejoin the motorway and present your pass at the Kilcock toll booth showing ypu've already paid.

How bloody silly can you get

That's how it works wrt Drogheda on the M1 toll. How would you do it if you were in charge?

jwt wrote:

P.S. 2.40 EURO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a complete and utter waste of time.

You're free to continue using the old road of course, which will likely be a fair bit quieter now. I'd prefer if the government themselves were operating the toll but they're not and in 27 years time the tolls will be removed and we'll have a motorway we otherwise wouldn't have had.

Interestingly, the concession period on the M3 is 45 years!! The future operator (likely to be Eurolink also) could spot that money maker a long way off

unkel

impr0v wrote:

I'm leaving for the opening ceremony and reception in about half an hour. If there's something you'd like me to say to Mr. Cullen (though it's rumoured there's been a late change and der fuhrur is opening it instead of him) reply quickly.

Aye it was Him alright

Were you there on official business? What's your job if you don't mind me asking?

ciarsd

dingding wrote:

Anyone try it out this evening was there much time saved.

it stated on the news last night that a commute between Sligo/Galway region to the capital has been reduced by 20 minutes.

Mailman

20 minutes at peak time, not all the time.

jwt

murphaph wrote:

That's how it works wrt Drogheda on the M1 toll. How would you do it if you were in charge?

Not have a toll at all?

After all I pay...
car tax (530 odd pa)
vrt (7000 odd p 3yr)
vat (5000 odd p 3yr)
tax on fuel (500 odd pa)
parking fees (4000 pa)
All paid out after tax on my wages
vat on maintaining my car (400 pa)

in fact I believe the current estimate is that 1 in 8 euro collected by the exchequer comes from me and other motorists. And now I have to pay another 25 per week 1250 pa to use a safer road or take my chances on the old road (which is notorious).

murphaph wrote:

You're free to continue using the old road of course, which will likely be a fair bit quieter now.

Not really, owner operators artics and lorries arent using the motorway, and as stated above it isnt a particularly safe road, Currently a lot of residents in the area who cant afford to fork out 1250 extra per annum after tax arent using the road.


And before anyone quotes the party line about toll costs in Europe, have a look at the alternative roads you can use in Europe if you dont want to use the tolled roads, look at the car tax, lack of double taxation, high quality infrastructure.

You arent comparing like with like.


But primarily I'm pissed off because I live on the N4 and when I was buying my house was expecting a motorway to be built that would take away a lot of the traffic in particular HGV traffic and specifically HGV traffic through villages and past the front door of three primary schools between Mullingar and Clonard. (Clonard, Kinnegad and Coralstown in case you were wondering, though Coralstown school is moving anyway)

Tolls were supposed to be set at a reasonable level and comparrisons were made with the west link. That it would be totally uneconomical for cars and HGVs to use the old road because the tolls would cost far less than the fuel and wear and tear. Huh!

“People might only use it on a Friday to avoid the bottlenecks in Enfield or Clonard,” Colr Carey added. “But it won’t fulfil its aim to take everyday traffic out of places like Enfield,” he claimed.

Colr Carey opposed the tolls at the oral hearings into the motorway four and a half years ago, as did the business community of Enfield. The hope was, he said, that it would leave Enfield, the N4 and the ring road with at least half the volume of traffic that is currently travelling on it, but this won’t happen with a E2.50 charge per car.

His initial predictions at the time of the oral hearing was that the fee would be IR£1.50.

“People weren’t vocal enough in their opposition that time,” he said. “They were asked what’s better - sitting an hour in traffic or paying a pound to go on the motorway. Of course, at the time, they thought it would never happen. But it has, and it’ll be dear on their pockets,” the Fine Gael county councillor pointed out.

Cllr Patrick Prendergast, for Meath Co Council, said tolls would act as a deterrent to vehicles using the motorways as they would inevitably revert to using existing roads.

"The imposition of tolls would place an unacceptable financial burden on people living in Co Meath. The addition of up to £20 per week to existing motoring and living costs is unacceptable," he said.

By Liam Sherlock and Sharon Newman

Heavy goods vehicles seeking to avoid toll charges on the planned M4 Kinnegad-Enfield-Kilcock motorway by sticking with the existing N4 and speeding at off-peak hours, could lead to a major increase in traffic accidents, it was claimed at Monday’s oral hearing into the M4 Draft Toll Scheme, held in the Bloomfield House Hotel, Mullingar. Many motorists commuting regularly from Mullingar to Dublin will be caught in the charges trap.

Imposition of tolls on the proposed Enfield bypass in Co Meath will worsen the traffic hazard in the village
Tim O'Brien
Irish Times Tuesday, August 28, 2001


The imposition of tolls on the proposed Enfield bypass in Co Meath will worsen the traffic hazard in the village, it was claimed yesterday.

The National Roads Authority (NRA) is seeking approval for two toll plazas on the proposed Kilcock-Enfield-Kilbeg

gan motorway and on the approach to it from Enfield. However, speaking at the oral hearing into the tolls proposal in
Mullingar, Ms Sarah Carey, a resident and traders' representative, said tolls meant traffic would only use the bypass at
peak times. At other times, when traffic was light in Enfield drivers - and particularly regular drivers - would be
"encouraged" to use the old main road through the village.

"Accidents don't happen at peak time, they happen when the traffic is moving fast, and that is what we are being left with,
fast moving traffic through Enfield," she said.

John

andyeire

I used the M4 toll today ,i had to go to Liffey Valley about 3.30.So i used the toll road all went well till i got tot the toll booth.There were only 2 opened with queues of about 10 cars at each.Some where on the NRA site i had read that they had a service level agreement that if there was more than 5 cars at the booths the barriers wou;d be opened and the traffic let through for free.When i got to the booth i asked about this .The bloke in the booth pointed out that there was no one at the easy pass lane so this didnt constitute a delay .This sounds like complete bull to me .Firstly they dont take easy pass I had tried to find out about there own Eirtag system but i was unable to find any info online .So there customer charter means they can understaff the toll booths and when ever they get queues they just open some express lanes that nobody can use.On a positive note from the spa hotel to my front door in Kinnegad in 35 mins arriving in KInnegad at 7.05

eirlink

yesterday,left bewleys hotel sndyford at 3:15pm took m50 to liffey valley and then m4 west.
arrived at western end of mullingar bypass at 4:32.

eirlink

HotRodDub

So what is the general opinion on the M4, are people on here going to use it?

It's very tempting to use it in the evenings, to arrive in Mullingar at 7.00 instead of 7.30 but in the mornings the traffic on the old road is never to bad, except from Enfield to Kilcock - but not every morning.

In the new year, I'll try the old road to and from work for a week and then try the new road for a week and check out the fuel consumption. I am hoping that the toll wont work out as much as 2.50 if my fuel consumption is down which it should be.

Seth Brundle

andyeire wrote:

I used the M4 toll today ,i had to go to Liffey Valley about 3.30.So i used the toll road all went well till i got tot the toll booth.There were only 2 opened with queues of about 10 cars at each.Some where on the NRA site i had read that they had a service level agreement that if there was more than 5 cars at the booths the barriers wou;d be opened and the traffic let through for free.When i got to the booth i asked about this .The bloke in the booth pointed out that there was no one at the easy pass lane so this didnt constitute a delay .This sounds like complete bull to me .Firstly they dont take easy pass I had tried to find out about there own Eirtag system but i was unable to find any info online .So there customer charter means they can understaff the toll booths and when ever they get queues they just open some express lanes that nobody can use.On a positive note from the spa hotel to my front door in Kinnegad in 35 mins arriving in KInnegad at 7.05

erm, the easypass isn't working on the M4* and won't be until a few weeks time!
i would make a point of complaining about this to the Dept of Transport and the media before it becomes accepted.


* due to the nature of the easypass system on the M50 which is out of date it isn't compatible with the high tech standards of the M4. Unfortunatley it must be that NTR don't have the finances available to make sure their systems are compatible.
Maybe they should increase the prices to pay for a software upgrade!

impr0v

andyeire wrote:

I used the M4 toll today ,i had to go to Liffey Valley about 3.30.So i used the toll road all went well till i got tot the toll booth.There were only 2 opened with queues of about 10 cars at each.Some where on the NRA site i had read that they had a service level agreement that if there was more than 5 cars at the booths the barriers wou;d be opened and the traffic let through for free.When i got to the booth i asked about this .The bloke in the booth pointed out that there was no one at the easy pass lane so this didnt constitute a delay .This sounds like complete bull to me .Firstly they dont take easy pass I had tried to find out about there own Eirtag system but i was unable to find any info online .So there customer charter means they can understaff the toll booths and when ever they get queues they just open some express lanes that nobody can use.On a positive note from the spa hotel to my front door in Kinnegad in 35 mins arriving in KInnegad at 7.05

The wording of the service level agreement isn't that straight-forward. I don't think the person you talked to is correct in saying that a free express lane means there is no delay for the purposes of the clause you are referring to, however the service level, i.e. the number of vehicles sitting in each lane, has to be over a certain number on average over a specified period of time. This period of time is a number of hours and, though it's from memory only, I think the specificed number of vehicles is nearer to ten than five. Basicially a statistical test is used to find when the service level has dropped enough to incur the penalty clause in the contract.

HotRodDub

Correct me if I am wrong, but on the approach to the tolls from Kilcock, I thought I saw a flashing message sign/board saying that credit cards are accepted - not sure if I read it correctly as I was concentrating on getting in the right lane as I had no change and needed a cashier.

Can you imagine the queues if everyone paid by credit card? - but suppose it is handy if you find yourself on the motorway without any cash.

impr0v

Yeah they are accepted, at booths where the yellow (i think) card symbol is illuminated.