Toll has increased 10 cent in the new year

evoke

The toll in galway has gone up to €1.90 from €1.80. Does any one know the reason for that besides making more money?

It took them ages to bring it down to €1.80 when they were breaking the law charging €1.90

I thought they would be making loads of money since a lot of people use the motorway.

galwayrush

Simple stealth tax increase.

ArraMusha

"Does any one know the reason for that besides making more money?"

Ya, anyone who hasn't immigrated to Australia or Canada in the last few months and are still here get robbed.

tiz all explained here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JlUGIXUB2Y

cooperguy

ArraMusha wrote: »

"Does any one know the reason for that besides making more money?"

Ya, anyone who hasn't immigrated to Australia or Canada in the last few months and are still here get robbed.

tiz all explained here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JlUGIXUB2Y

We are not getting robbed we are getting a road for the money. It is a relatively cheap toll in comparison to elsewhere in Europe. I was in Toronto for a few weeks this year. If you think we are being robbed here you should check the cost of living over there, enough with the negativity!

The tolls are charged in line with inflation. It is rising as is inflation.

KevR

evoke wrote: »

It took them ages to bring it down to €1.80 when they were breaking the law charging €1.90

Not true. The M6 toll was reduced immediately when there was deflation a couple of years ago. Also, note that there was slight inflation last year and the M6 toll was held at €1.80 (unlike the M4 toll which increased last year and again this year)

Perhaps you are thinking of the M4 or M1 tolls - they both refused to reduce their tolls a couple of years ago and only eventually did so when the NRA brought them to court.

KevR

ArraMusha wrote: »

"Does any one know the reason for that besides making more money?"

Ya, anyone who hasn't immigrated to Australia or Canada in the last few months and are still here get robbed.

tiz all explained here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JlUGIXUB2Y

Nobody cares about Australia or Canada

ScumLord

KevR wrote: »

Nobody cares about Australia or Canada

It's much more expensive to use the toll roads in Spain too.

antoobrien

evoke wrote: »

The toll in galway has gone up to €1.90 from €1.80. Does any one know the reason for that besides making more money?

Simple answer is that they are entitled to. I'll dig out the tolling information but they didn't have to keep it at 1.80 last year.

zarquon

Tolls are much more expensive throughout Europe and even the U.S. Considering the quality of road and the convenience of a trip to Dublin, it's well worth the premium. If you have a problem with the price, use the old road.

GekkePrutser

I think it's ok for what we get. The 10c increase just corrects for inflation over the last few years really. I remember the old road and all the little villages to crawl through, especially after Athlone. It was a nightmare having to go to Dublin.

I still think all roads should be free (paid by road tax). But as far as tolls go it's not bad, around 5 euro for 220km.

antoobrien

As promised I got the M6 tolling information, which is on the NRA website.

The maximum tolls are calculated based on a base price set in 2005 & the CPI to November 1996 base 100 (prices as of November 1996) + vat. For cars this base toll is €1.33 and is rounded up to the nearest 10c. The exact CPI prices can be gotten off the cso website. The opening index was taken in August 2004 - 129.2. The current index is 148.1. For calculating the 2012 tolls the relevant index was 145.2, for 2011 142.2

To calculate the toll use the following formula:
(Base toll * CPI as of Last August)/opening index + VAT (rounded up to nearest 10c).

For 2013 the maximum toll is: (1.33*148.1)/129.2=1.525*1.23=1.875 -> €1.90
For 2012 the maximum toll is: €1.84 -> €1.90
For 2011 the maximum toll is: €1.80 = €1.80

Last year they could have put the tolls back up by 10c (the prices was 1.90 for '09 & '10) but they didn't.

evoke wrote: »

The toll in galway has gone up to €1.90 from €1.80. Does any one know the reason for that besides making more money?

As of 31/12/2011 they have total liabilities (mostly loans) of €245m. As part of the tolling concession they also have the responsibility for maintaining the road (which afaik includes a full refurbishment after 20 years) until April 4th 2037 (30 years from signing the contract).

They raised €10.8m in tolls in 2011 (from the latest available company accounts) & presumably a similar amounts in 2010 & 2012, with a gross profit of €6.25m.

Zzippy

The thing I wonder about is how come the Galway-Dublin motorway costs €4.80, for a total motorway distance of 195km, while the Cork-Dublin motorway (motorway as far as Naas according to Google maps) costs €3.80, for a total motorway distance of 218km???

Galway motorists pay 2.6c per motorway km, while Cork motorists pay 1.7c per motorway km...

ScumLord

Zzippy wrote: »

The thing I wonder about is how come the Galway-Dublin motorway costs €4.80, for a total motorway distance of 195km, while the Cork-Dublin motorway (motorway as far as Naas according to Google maps) costs €3.80, for a total motorway distance of 218km???

Galway motorists pay 2.6c per motorway km, while Cork motorists pay 1.7c per motorway km...

The Dubs would probably be paying more as the M50 isn't all that long. Same goes for bridge tolls, there huge by that way of reckoning.

I'd assume it's based on the actual cost of making the road. One may have been more straight forward to build than the other taking into account hills, valleys, rivers and mountains.

antoobrien

Zzippy wrote: »

The thing I wonder about is how come the Galway-Dublin motorway costs €4.80, for a total motorway distance of 195km, while the Cork-Dublin motorway (motorway as far as Naas according to Google maps) costs €3.80, for a total motorway distance of 218km???

Based on the financial information available the M4 & M6 are the most expensive projects for the concessions that constructed & operate the roads, which explains the higher costs.

Zzippy

antoobrien wrote: »

Based on the financial information available the M4 & M6 are the most expensive projects for the concessions that constructed & operate the roads, which explains the higher costs.

Cheers Anto. Would you know where this info is available online? I wonder how much the toll will be on the Tuam-Gort motorway when it eventually opens... construction costs would presumably be even higher now given the increases in fuel costs, etc., so the toll could be substantial. Thoughts?

antoobrien

Zzippy wrote: »

Cheers Anto. Would you know where this info is available online?

Sorry, forgot the link, it's on the NRA website, just takes a lot of reading to find what you're looking for.

http://www.nra.ie/PublicPrivatePartnership/FinancialInformationonContractsAwarded/

Zzippy wrote: »

I wonder how much the toll will be on the Tuam-Gort motorway when it eventually opens... construction costs would presumably be even higher now given the increases in fuel costs, etc., so the toll could be substantial. Thoughts?

Seeing as the M6 & M17/18 schemes are very similar in scope, (50km-60km of 4 lane road, link roads & ancillary works, 30+ bridges & underpasses), the cost of construction should be similar if not cheaper due to the fact that it is not happening at the peak of an employment bubble. Any extra fuel costs will be more than outweighed by lower wage & materials costs.

See the gort-tuam thread in roads for more.

ScumLord

antoobrien wrote: »

Any extra fuel costs will be more than outweighed by lower wage & materials costs.

Have they purchased the land yet? There would be a fairly dramatic decrease in those kind of costs too.

antoobrien

ScumLord wrote: »

Have they purchased the land yet? There would be a fairly dramatic decrease in those kind of costs too.

I think so, they've supposedly spent up to €140m on land.

If it ever happens, GCOB will be the one that the drop in the price of land will benefit.