N25 Toll Plaza

cococoady

The toll plaza will now be charging for people to use the bridge during the Tall Ships race even tho Rice Bridge will be closed to all traffic.
This is absolutely rediculous. That toll should be never of been put there in the first place anyway :mad:



http://www.wlrfm.com/news-and-sport/waterford-news/29292.html

http://www.wlrfm.com/news-and-sport/waterford-news/29363.html

ziedth

Can't say I blame them. Think of the money they'll make,

STIG83

It's a lot of money they would lose if they lifted the toll for the tall ships, would people use it if the tolls were reduced to half price for the few days?
That definitely won't happen.

Big Lar

Its not all bad.

The park and ride facilities in place for the festival will be free before 10 o'clock to facilitate people working in the city centre

Cabaal

Anyone know will the quays be closed for all the hours of the tall ships or will the roads close at a set time say 8am or something?

Trick of the Tail

I would guess that if they'd agreed to lift the tolls, they would expect to get compensated at least in part for the usual level of revenue that they would lose.

I know the funding for the TS has been difficult, so perhaps thats where the plan fell through.

A.

south

I know people who cross the bridge for work won't be one bit happy.

STIG83

Put it this way, €1.80 is a lot cheaper than having to pay €3.00 on the M50.

south

Your not forced to use the m50

Max Powers

not really a big issue is it. if you dont want to pay you can go to carrick and head to Waterford via that road and cork road so no one is forced .

STIG83

I would have no problem paying a toll, the amount of fuel you would waste stuck in traffic in a city or town.

Minstrel27

Is the closing of Rice bridge really necessary? What is it being used for over the weekend of the Tall Ships?

gman2k

Max Powers wrote: »

not really a big issue is it. if you dont want to pay you can go to carrick and head to Waterford via that road and cork road so no one is forced .

Sorry Max, but are you trolling?
I suppose one could also head on over to the Passage East ferry to avoid it also?

KingLoser

Max Powers wrote: »

not really a big issue is it. if you dont want to pay you can go to carrick and head to Waterford via that road and cork road so no one is forced .

ya only have to go to fiddown actually..!

i still don't think it's right, if the other bridge is closed, this one should be free, simple as. money-hungry c*nts!

Trick of the Tail

Well its a private company, why should they lose the income they would usually have at the weekend?

I agree it should be toll-free but Suir-Toll (or whatever they're called) should be compensated to the tune of their usual weekend take.

A.

Dum_Dum

When situations like this arise it exposes the simple truth that the bridge was not built for the benefit of the people of the SE but for the operators and our bankrupt political class.

Hoffmans

hold on now a minute !

the whole reason the council and mrs cheese&winereceptions roche gave for closin 4 lanes of traffic on rice bridge was to accomodate pedestrians :rolleyes: and they justified it by promising that the toll barriers would be lifted for the 3 days!

what the hell do pedestrians need 4 lanes of the n25 to wander around a few boats?
2 would be more than enough leaving two open for traffic ,same as they do when theres roadworks of the cops are out on their overtime doin a checkpoint....

ziedth

It's hard to blame the toll operators for all this though. I mean they are a private company and I'd imagine want to make as much money off the tall ships as they can (like anybody else).

I agree that two lanes would be more then enough for people walking over the bridge.

Bards

I thought they had to legally lift the barriers due to lack of toll free alternative route?

wmpdd3

Hoffmans wrote: »

hold on now a minute !

the whole reason the council and mrs cheese&winereceptions roche gave for closin 4 lanes of traffic on rice bridge was to accomodate pedestrians :rolleyes: and they justified it by promising that the toll barriers would be lifted for the 3 days!

what the hell do pedestrians need 4 lanes of the n25 to wander around a few boats?
2 would be more than enough leaving two open for traffic ,same as they do when theres roadworks of the cops are out on their overtime doin a checkpoint....

I was on the bridge last time during some serious over crowding, I fell into a buggy on top of a baby and couldn't get out.

Right so, how does this park and ride thing work?

You need the full bridge for pedestrians.

But I will not pay that tool on principle. I somehow have to make it from Ferrybank to the Dunmore rd at 8am.

Knew I should have booked holidays for that weekend.

Marchandire

A secondary issue with this: the Council said months ago that tolling would suspended for the tall ships festival. Local people were very pleased by this and receptive to the idea - but now it turns out to be load of crap - and just before the festival gets under way.

It seems that they were happy to accept the goodwill and credit for the announcement, while never actually having to power to enforce it. This will actually effect the travel plans of a lot of visitors, I'd imagine.

Typical local politicians.

gman2k

No point giving out here about local politicians, start the ball rolling now by bombarding them with texts, calls, facebook messages etc.

fricatus

Dum_Dum wrote: »

When situations like this arise it exposes the simple truth that the bridge was not built for the benefit of the people of the SE but for the operators and our bankrupt political class.

Very true. It was an investment opportunity for the investors, when what we needed was for our government, which had at the time, tons of cash at its disposal, to invest that cash (which we had all worked hard for and paid in tax) for the benefit of the people by building a second river crossing in Waterford.

wmpdd3 wrote: »

But I will not pay that tool on principle. I somehow have to make it from Ferrybank to the Dunmore rd at 8am.

However this little protest of yours will inconvenience nobody but yourself, and for your own peace of mind, you'd just be better off paying up and getting to work on time.

It's less than the price of two pints, and while I'm sorry to sound condescending, the toll company isn't going to give a rodent's rectum whether you drive up to Fiddown or stay on the south side of the river or whatever, for two days. If everyone stayed away, every day, then they'd have to listen, but you and I know that ain't gonna happen.

gman2k wrote: »

No point giving out here about local politicians, start the ball rolling now by bombarding them with texts, calls, facebook messages etc.

A much better solution! I'm personally not all that bothered, but if you are, there are plenty of forums out there who would love to bash our local elected representatives over the head. Talk to Joe! And ring George Hook - he's always looking for stories of injustice, and would no doubt be delighted to harrumph into the Newstalk microphone on your behalf.

It will be very interesting to see what comes out about this, because surely to God anyone who would promise that the toll barriers would be lifted would have this in writing, on official paper, delivered by registered post, digitally signed, in blood, from the toll company. If they don't, I really pity whoever was stupid enough to take a flyer like this!

Max Powers

i cant believe the pathetic whinging about a tiny non-issue in this thread. its all more pub talk, complaining and moaning about everything. I dont think even the joe duffy or george hook complainers would take this rubbish on board.

Silverado

Is this not a golden opportunity for Celtic Roads to win the hearts and minds of the people of Waterford. If they showed the magnanimity to open the bridge to all for the event then they might encourage us to use the facility more often.

There are a lot of people in the locality who have never used the bridge and this might just encourage them to start. Celtic Roads would win brownie points at the same time.

Now they are just going to leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth which will cause the opposite to happen.

fatherbuzcagney

Can't see any reason for free toll over tallships weekend, if anything im delighted that they can't increase the toll charge for weekend as many other businesses will definitly be ingreasing their prices to make most of the oppertunity.

Driving home last night i came on a diversion that put about 5 miles extra on my journey home, im hardly going to complain to the co council that it cost me more in petrol due to diversion .

fricatus

Silverado wrote: »

There are a lot of people in the locality who have never used the bridge and this might just encourage them to start. Celtic Roads would win brownie points at the same time.

I think you're being a bit naïve there in fairness. People know damn well that the new bridge is there, but they don't want to spend the €1.80 to cross it when there's a free alternative in town (even if it means wasting petrol in traffic; if only people had a petrol consumption meter like a taxi meter in their cars...)

You open it for the duration of the Tall Ships, and of course people will gladly take their free spin over. But I don't think they'll suddenly start using it once the Tall Ships have sailed and it's €1.80 again.

fricatus

Max Powers wrote: »

i cant believe the pathetic whinging about a tiny non-issue in this thread. its all more pub talk, complaining and moaning about everything. I dont think even the joe duffy or george hook complainers would take this rubbish on board.

You're entitled of course to think it's a pathetic non-issue, but do you seriously think Joe Duffy and the Hooky Bear are only concerned with the Big Issues of the day?

Minstrel27

Silverado wrote: »

Is this not a golden opportunity for Celtic Roads to win the hearts and minds of the people of Waterford. If they showed the magnanimity to open the bridge to all for the event then they might encourage us to use the facility more often.

There are a lot of people in the locality who have never used the bridge and this might just encourage them to start. Celtic Roads would win brownie points at the same time.

Now they are just going to leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth which will cause the opposite to happen.

I don't see why they would want to win the hearts of the people of Waterford. Once the free bridge is open again people would go back to using it.

The big problem here is the politicians who told everyone it would be free.

Aquos76

I think a lot of people are totally missing the point here, the city council are under obligation to the residents of ferrybank and S Kilkenny to provide them with an alternative to gain FREE access into the city centre, and before anyone mentions it, fiddown is not a viable alternative, when the announcement was made the the bridge was to be closed for the duration of the tall ships it was also announced that the tolls would be lifted on the suir bridge for that duration also.

The reason the council have not been able to implement a total ban in the city centre of greater that 3ton trucks is for this reason alone, they are not able to provide a free alternative. The council are going to have to sort out this issue.

I did read that Taxi's and buses will still be able to use Rice bridge during the day, but may be subject to restrictions at certain times.

Max Powers

fricatus wrote: »

You're entitled of course to think it's a pathetic non-issue, but do you seriously think Joe Duffy and the Hooky Bear are only concerned with the Big Issues of the day?

I think rice bridge being closed is a tiny inconvenience we should gladly welcome for the millions and visitors that will come to Waterford City. I believe any intelligent person should see that and get on their life. If Rice bridge was open, the same people would complain that it should be closed for duration of Tall Ships, safety reasons etc.