Pictured above: Will Rogers
The M6 Toll Road is too costly to use, according to a major
membership survey by Birmingham Chamber Group.
The survey reveals that none of those surveyed use the road on a
daily basis, and the vast majority (78.2 per cent) said price was
the main reason they didn't use it.
The Chamber survey comes against a backdrop of continuing delays
and traffic chaos on the M6 through Birmingham, and the
announcement by the Government that urgent work is to be undertaken
to widen the motorway at Castle Bromwich, as part of a £600m
package of transport improvement schemes.
The congestion and chaos that is currently plaguing the M6 has
at least persuaded some motorists to use the Toll Road - 13.4 per
cent of those surveyed said that they used it because of road
closures and road works.
According to new figures, the Toll Road saw usage increase by
5.2 per cent between July and September, and the average number of
users is now 44.089, compared to 41,898 a year ago.
The Chamber survey found that 38.9 per cent of those polled
never use the road, and only 27.8 per cent use it on anything like
a regular basis. Nearly a third of those surveyed said they use the
road only occasionally.
Since March of this year, the majority of those surveyed (57.4
per cent) said their usage of the Toll Road remained unchanged,
while nearly a third (29.6 per cent) said they were using the road
less.
Of the latter, most (56.3 per cent) said the reason behind not
using the road was down to cost.
Despite this, of those surveyed who regularly use the road, 53.3
per cent said they felt the time saved justified the price.
The Toll Road fees are currently £5 per car, and £10
for an HGV.
Will Rogers, Chamber policy adviser, said: "It's good to see
that there has been an overall growth in the usage of the Toll Road
since 2009.
"However, many people still feel that the road is still too
highly priced to provide a viable alternative to the heavily
congested M6.
"For regular users, it's not an economic alternative to the M6 -
however, it remains to be seen what will happen once the proposed
road widening scheme between Ray Hall and Castle Bromwich is
completed.
"That scheme - plus the one currently underway at Wolverhampton
- should lead to a reduction in congestion, which could mean there
will be less reason to use the Toll Road than there is today."