Two days ago, the news was out that Merseytravel are set to increase the price of the tunnel tolls again.

We must do something about this and try to put a stop to it!
Please sign the petition below to show your support.

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitio...crease-of-mersey-tunnel-tolls-april-2014

Much appreciated!

Shaun

Signed and shared in various groups on Facebook.

40yrs after opening, it was to be toll free. It opened in 1934. So....er...mmmm...????

Dream on baby !

Signed, although it doesn't really affect me.
Just to put it in perspective, even at the new price, it's still the cheapest per mile of any major river crossing in England.
The Dartford crossing costs £2
The Severn crossing costs £6.20, but only charges in one direction i.e to escape from Wales.
The Humber bridge charges £1.50, but for a shorter distance.
The Tyne tunnel costs £1.60 for a measly 900 feet.
In my own town I would have to pay to cross the Kingsland bridge: 20p for 212 feet.
The wise folk in Scotland abolished all bridge tolls in 2008.

Get a fast tag there £1.30 a trip.

Yes a fast tag is cheaper, only by a measly 30p. But the profits of these tunnels are being used to fund other means of mersey travel transport. They also waste OUR money on decorating the edges of the roads with pretty flowers in expensive wooden beds, who gives a sh*t on what the roadway looks like. You'll also notice a large unnecessary range of new police cars. This stupidity just needs to stop, we must do something and our views need to be heard instead of sitting around complaining about it.
Please spread the word and take 30 seconds to support this whether you drive or not. Thanks

Like the ferries? Or perhaps you don't care if they are lost.

The ferries are important, they are apart of our history. I'm not here to start a heated debate or go off track. Just simply trying to get people on my side and sign my petition.

If your like me and travel to work every day by tunnel then it adds up over the month. a measly 30p but your the one who crys about a measly 20p rise. maybe you should consider a bike.If your that worried about a measly 20p rise. The ones that travel once a year to Liverpool seem to be the ones that cry about a measly 20p rise.

The council waste far more money.

Thanks have a great day

No disrespect but i do at least 12 in and out journeys to Liverpool. I just want to do something about it seems as nobody else will. It costs me almost £40 a week to get to Liverpool and back, ridiculous. If you cant understand why I'm doing this, you must have more money than sense!

How does the fast tag work? I have just had a look on the site.
So you tell them how many journeys a month you will make?
Do you have to do this each month, and what happens if you don't make the completed journeys in one month is it carried over? I have never thought of having one but really I would save working in Liverpool..thanks

This seems to explain it fully.
http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/Tickets/compare-tickets/Documents/IntroducingTheFastTag.pdf
As I understand it, you estimate the maximum number of journeys you'll make during one month and pay the cost of those journeys up-front, at the Fast Tag rate, into the account you set up with Merseytravel. Thereafter, each month, they claim the cost of the actual number of journeys from your bank. So, you will always have one month's credit in your account. You only have to estimate your journeys once. What it comes down to is that you've paid for a month's travel in advance and each month your account is topped up by the exact amount you've spent.
If you're going to make a return journey five days a week, that's 40 single journeys a month at £1.50 each, so you'd have to pay £60 into your account at the start: actually, better make it £70 to allow for those months with more than 20 working days.
If I've got this wrong, I'm sure a Fast Tag user will correct it.

think the fast tag is ideal if you use the tunnels often the more you use, the more you save and is better than having the right change all the time also queues at the pay tolls can delay you big time if your time is important, another plus like my self I use them for when public transport not available as I do shift work,and have requested a small amount of cash back in to my bank as long as enough left in for my next direct debit.
what will be with new price with fast tag.

Same 20p increase, so £1.50 I think.

I must say that if I used the tunnels often, I'd have the tag for sure. The only disadvantage is that you're paying for one month in advance.

I first got a tag when I started driving to work in Liverpool around 1998. Gave up that job in 2003, but still kept the tag going, at a reduced monthly rate. I now drive to Liverpool regularly once a week, and some weeks four or five times. Even not doing the regular 5 times a week I was before, it's still saving £30-40 a year - better in my pocket than theirs! But the big advantage is, as Billyblue mentioned, not having to find the right money or queue for the change booth, and being able to just drive up to the barrier and see it go up automatically.

Chriskay - almost right, but you actually pay the same amount into your account each month by direct debit once you've paid your initial payment. They take what you use at the end of the month, and anything left remains in your account as credit, which builds up month on month. So if you've overestimated the number of journeys you do, you could gradually build up a credit balance (ours reached over £50 excess at one point when the number of journeys dropped off). But you can claim a refund at any time or reduce your monthly payment by sending an email, you just need to make sure there's always enough in your account for the journeys you do. When your credit is getting low it shows an amber light instead of a green one when the barrier goes up. You can also top up your account with a one-off payment before your direct debit is due if you think you're going to run out of credit.

It's a good system, which has always worked really well for us.

Great thanks for the replies I think I will sign up it will save me some money as I work five days a week in Liverpool.

May be a measly 20p but add that to the measly 11% the utilities companies have put up prices, add the cost of train travel that is going up again, add the rise in Council tax that will be due in April and add whatever percentage that United Utilities will put on the bill next year and whatever all other companies that have us by the short and curlies are going to add, then to put it into perspective, ask why many of us have had our wages frozen for three years or more? This Government love people like you who don't question or fight. I'm not signing btw because it does no good. Better for everyone to write to their MP or better still, stand for election to the local council as an independent and vote against. Rioting works although I am in no way advocating such a measure!

How come locals in Halton get 300 free trips across their new toll bridges yet we have to pay to use our local toll?

Utter nonsense. Not even going answer. .

As I understand it, both the original Silver Jubilee Bridge and the new Mersey Gateway will be tolled at £2 and the plan is for the Mersey Tunnels to also be £2 per trip by 2017.

Irritating for some but my hope is that it encourages people to use public transport. It's been a while since I used the train but isn't it cheaper than £4 for a return to Liverpool from most of Wirral line?

This will ease congestion in and around the tunnels and their approaches and I'll get to work quicker!

I bet the majority of people who drive to Liverpool on a daily basis have no requirement for their car during the day. If using the tunnels is a requirement of your job then your company should be allowing you to claim it back anyway.

Mine do.

The local user discount scheme will give eligible Halton residents 25 free one-way trips a month – up to 300 trips a year – across the two bridges.

http://www.merseygateway.co.uk/im-a-halton-resident/

Yes, as long as you travel from no further than Meols, but that's only part of the story. Suppose your journey is 10 miles each way. That's going to cost you at least half a gallon of petrol, say, £3 plus the standing costs of your car; tax and insurance and wear and tear. It's much cheaper by train but maybe not as convenient.

I suppose people from the likes of Wallasey should feel pretty badly done to then with the tunnel. I didn't know that, thanks for sharing.

More convenience = more money.

Can't afford it = get the train.

I definitely think it will be good for public transport, congestion etc.

Signed.

It should be remembered that not everyone using the tunnels is going to Liverpool City Centre. I drive to Lancashire each day so (while I prefer Merseyrail when going shopping etc.) it isn't much use for my commute. There is no realistic alternative.

I really believe Merseytravel/Tunnels need to be investigated into the way they handle their finances. I find it hard to believe that after all these years the debt *still* hasn't been paid off. While at the same time they seem to be able to afford planters, rumble strips, electronic name signs, new police cars etc. It seems they'd sooner throw money at anything other than paying the debt off.

BTW, where has this toll increase been reported? I can't find any mention of it on any of the local news websites.

Good point - I had a quick search and also couldn't find any mention of an increase except on Esther McVey's website (where she'd got it wrong anyway, saying that the class toll is CURRENTLY £1.80 and wouldn't be changing).

However what she's actually talking about is the maximum that Merseytravel COULD legally increase it to. A decision regarding what the actual increase will be won't be made until February 2014. So the petition is still very important to make sure Merseytravel are aware of the strength of feeling against the increase

eta - this has just gone live on the Globe website

Signed Shaun, and well done to you, for trying to motivate people. Not many would these days.

I still don't understand how money from different scources seems to end up in one big pot, for the benefit of all. That was never the way accounts and book keeping were handled. Maybe that is why these places are in difficulties. They have been robbing Peter to pay Paul. Do they put 'bus money' into the tunnels? What happens if the tunnels need massive work done, who will now pay for that, when the time comes?
Please correct me if I'm wrong, because I would like to know.

Signed. Although I only use the tunnel a few times a year whilst on visits "home", I thinks it's important to give an additional "thump on the desk" against any increase. Better still to thump the suits behind the desk, but.....

It's high time all river crossings in England where made part of the national road network and scrapping all tolls. This happened a while back in Haggisville - for which I'm truly grateful!

I've a feeling in my water that no amount of petitioning will stop the increases (if/when they come), but as sure as Hell, we shouldn't just roll over, have out tummies tickled and give up!

Just my 2d's worth.

Signed, although I doubt it will make any difference.

I wonder if London would put up with tolls on all the bridges they have over the Thames.

They do pay tolls at Dartford tunnel and others. plus they pay daily congestion charges if they enter the city. It was
5 pounds a day. Maybe that could be a better option for Liverpool. Then all who enter the city centre would contribute. They wouldn't like that though, would they?

http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/1...spect_of_Mersey_Tunnel_toll_hike/?ref=mr

Clarification regarding Tunnel Tolls for 2014
Published on 30/12/2013
No decisions have yet been taken on Tunnel Toll charges from April 2014. The toll levels will be set by elected members at the February meeting of Merseytravel’s Integrated Transport Authority.

What have been published, and what appear to have caused some confusion, are the authorised maximum legal toll levels under the Tunnels Act (what we are allowed to charge), based on the November Retail Price Index (RPI). The authorised toll levels do not necessarily become the applied charges. As the table below shows, the authorised toll level for 2013 for Class 1 was £1.80, but the actual and current charge is £1.60.



http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/abou...ficationregardingTunnelTollsfor2014.aspx

Signed, don't use it a lot now since I have been retired but this should now be part of the National Roads network and therefore be free. It was meant to be free originally but a 5 year period of charge was permitted because of costs being more than expected. This period now seems to have been just automatically extended year on year and it should stop.
It affects local businesses adding a surcharge onto every bit of cross river trade, such costs are not borne by businesses not associated with Merseyside travel.
This continual increase is to be abhorred and should be abolished.

totally agree with Shaun, it costs us a lot more with our wagons just a trip to and from liverpool does the best part of 14 quid try doing that a few times a week and it soon mounts up.

I find it amazing that everyone is happy to believe the gossip about the toll going up but totally ignore the statement put out by Mersey Travel stating that there is currently no planned increase. Glass half empty I think

People love to moan about how hard done to they are.

That's not strictly true though - as has been posted a couple of times already, what Merseytravel have said is not that no increase is planned, but that the decision has not yet been made regarding the size of the increase. That will be fixed at the February meeting of the Transport Authority. It has also been said elsewhere that in the past toll increases have been rejected or reduced because of the strength of public feeling. That being the case, surely it's better for the public to be petitioning Merseytravel about the tolls NOW rather than after the decision has been made! So well done to Shaun for bringing this into the public eye

The new crossing will be £2.00 to start
so will be the old crossing Runcorn bridge
this increase is just a step to make all crossings £2.00
I will gladly pay this if I can claim it back through any tax I have to pay for crossing the river for my business
WE HAVE NEVER HAD TO PAY FOR RUNCORN BRIDGE this is another TAX ON LOCAL MOTERISTS

No, there has never been a charge for the bridge but before it was built, you had to pay to use the old transporter bridge, which closed in 1960. At that time, the charge for a foot passenger was 2d. The equivalent now would be about 15p. I can't find the tolls for motor vehicles; maybe someone here can remember?

Unfortunately, 'moaning' is the only hope we have of stopping a potential toll increase in April.

I travel to Scotland for work, at the moment it's slightly cheaper for me to travel through the Tunnel. If it ever got to the point of it costing £2 each way I think the M53/M56 will be my route.

I use 53/56 anyway to go pretty much anywhere as I hate driving through town and up edge lane.

Extra 30 miles or so but I don't care.

There should be a peaceful protest, where everyone goes through the tunnel with a £20 note. Can you imagine the chaos this would cause, there would be tailbacks through the city up the M53 everywhere.

I can't see this ever happening but it would make a good protest.

Its bad enough now they have put it up to £1.60 and not increased the number of manned booths, previously you gave in £1 and got 2 50p's back meaning you had change for the return, now you get 40p back and have to go through the manned again on the return.

While I am on a rant, why don't the move the pay bin further away from the manned booth, so someone can be paying while someone is getting change, seems simple to me! Or even have change machines and do away with people all together.

An interesting excerpt from a book published around 1934 just after the tunnel was opened by King George V.

It seems to be a long 15 years.

If you gave in £1 and got 2 50p's back that sounds like a good booth to use. Seriously, is it really too much trouble to make sure you have the right change before you set out?
I love the idea of everyone turning up with a £20 note though.

Final paragraph of Headcoat's post; wow if I had a £ for every time I had gone through the tunnel and wondered why it was set up like that... Then, well, I'd only be paying 60p to go through it at the moment.

But you must think back, before the great pound coin scandal, you paid at the manned booth, got your change, and the operator lifted the barrier so you didn't use the bucket. Hence there was no reason for then to be apart.

Now you go to a staffed booth and receive change for the money you give them, then head to the bucket so huge operator finishes shift with same amount of money as they started,

I suggest cost to move the bucket forward is prohibitive despite their nice new expensive police cars.