Westlink Toll to Rise to €1.90 from 1st of January

RadarControl

According to the Sunday Independent the toll for the Westlink is to rise from €1.80 to €1.90 from the 1st of January. So we will have to pay more to sit in worsening traffic jams. This is such a great country to live in.

A HUNDRED thousand M50 commuters will be forced to pay yet another hike in toll charges on January 1. The toll at Dublin's West-Link is set to rise by 10¢ to €1.90 in the New Year.

The increase will mean another €10,000 a day straight into the profits of National Toll Roads, the highly profitable private toll firm which operates the West-Link.

The rise represents a 5.5 per cent additional charge to commuters at a time when delays at the West link are worse than ever.

It is not known if the same 5.5 per cent hike will apply to commercial vehicles, already paying €5.60 per journey. Insiders suggest that the price to them could rise to around €6.

An agreement between the Government and National Toll Roads allows the toll company to put the toll charge up in line with the level of inflation. The figure is then rounded to the nearest 10¢.

It is still open to the Government to subsidise the toll as they did for two years in 2001 when the second West-Link bridge was being built.

Last night Jimmy Quinn, vice president of the Irish Road Haulage Association protested at the proposal. "It makes no sense," he said, "to operate toll increases on an annual basis when freight charges can be going in the opposite direction."

A spokesman for the West-Link Action Group threatened to step up the pressure on the Government to open the West-Link at an early date. "At this rate," he claimed, "the price of being delayed at the West-Link will hit €2 by 2008."

The Government has promised that barrier free tolling will be introduced and the West-Link barrier removed by 2008. But under their agreement with NTR it is always open to them to set the toll rate at zero and compensate the toll company for any lost revenue.

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=35&si=1706280&issue_id=14768

Victor

The increase will mean another €10,000 a day straight into the profits of National Toll Roads, the highly profitable private toll firm which operates the West-Link.

Actually a big chunk of this will go to the government.

impr0v

Sensationalist statements in the Indo, surely not?

Seth Brundle

Given that they have rounded it to the nearest 10c, how much was it originally? 1c?

Victor

kbannon wrote:

Given that they have rounded it to the nearest 10c, how much was it originally? 1c?

If a toll of €1.00 is increased by 4% to €1.04, the toll company keeps it at €1.00.

In the following year, the base figure used is the €1.04, so if inflation is 3%, the new base becomes €1.0712, which rounds to €1.10.

The next year, if inlfation is at 3.5%, the base is at €1.108692, but the toll stays at €1.10.

We have got to the point where a toll of €1.50-2.00 with 2%-5% inflation goes up 10c most years.

Capt'n Midnight

Victor wrote:

In the following year, the base figure used is the €1.04, so if inflation is 3%, the new base becomes €1.0712, which rounds to €1.10.

Is this a new system ?
Did it apply for the euro round up ?
and the VAT round up ?

Victor

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

Is this a new system ? Did it apply for the euro round up ? and the VAT round up ?

Its the system thats been there all along for East-link and I imagine everything else also. I imagine it did apply.

Flukey

Instead of raising it by €0.10 to €1.90, they should reduce it by €1.80.

DerekP11

But under their agreement with NTR it is always open to them to set the toll rate at zero and compensate the toll company for any lost revenue.

Don't be shocked, dismayed, stunned, thrown or otherwise, if this actually becomes reality in the forthcoming election campaign, by the ones who created the problem in the first place.

Always plan ahead.:D

galwayrush

this bridge was paid for years ago, why keep paying for it.:rolleyes:
never underestimate the stupidity of the goverment i guess.they signed the deal.
or the stupidity of the people who elected them again.