The M50 - you have been barrelled

jumbo

BrianD wrote:

Apparently, it is not an offence to "skip the toll" on either the M50 and M1. If you tailgate behind the car in front and get through they don't have much comeback against you. There is legislation proposed that will make toll evasion punishable. Until this is introduced NTR will not remove the barriers from the Easypass lane. This effectively makes the easypass a waste of time for most motorists as there is no benefit other than being cashless system.

This is something I had been wondering about. In France and in London (or so I've heard) the toll-system operates by a camera reading your number plate and then an automatic system bills you. There's no messing about with tolls whatsoever. With EZ-pass it should be even simpler but if there's no legislation supporting it then how can it work. I personally dont mind paying the toll - maybe its not fair but thats life. What I *do* mind is the tailbacks.

As usual it appears to be down to those cocks in government.

littleox

I think that all the ministers (and public servants) who had any involvement in the awarding of the contract to NTR should be 'outed' publicly. I also think that we should be entitled to prosecute them. By giving NTR such a sweetheart deal, the govt have actually given them the M50. (atleast, as far as the exit junction before each side of the bridge) And it was built with our money.

Poster size images of all the culprits involved should be erected on the northbound margin short of the bridge, to identify them to all the crawling frustrated motorists. Estimates of the losses caused by the gridlock should be broadcast on a daily basis, until the govt are forced into rectifying the stroke that was pulled off in their name. And they could start by re-negotiating the deal with NTR. They should get rid of the bridge, replace it with a camera system and let the motorists get on with making both of them more money.

In the meantime, NTR should be told to raise barriers if there is any sign of traffic build up.

jumbo

littleox wrote:

In the meantime, NTR should be told to raise barriers if there is any sign of traffic build up.

In fairness though, I have noticed in the last while, that whenever things are exceptionally busy (bank holidays etc) they do actually raise the barriers on the basket-lanes and have attendants taking the tolls. It does speed things up a little bit. Could it be that the public pressure being brought to bear is having some effect? If even only at the grass-roots level (ie the people who have to actually work those booths and endure the constant stream of scowling motorists).

tolltroll

It is absolutely ridiculous the business approach that has been adopted on this project. Here are a few comments that I feel make sense and have yet to be brought to the table.

1 - Why is there no incentive to use Eazypass, when I signed up to it 4 years ago it was actually more expensive due to admin fees on the system.

2 - Why is it not cheaper -
NTR gets paid in advance for you using the Eazypass, ie 40 Euro minimum credit which they deduct from the CC before you actually go near the toll, they are therefore earning interest before the service is even provided.

Eazypass implemented properly should be far more productive than cash payments, more cars per hour hence higher earnings - any buiness I know allows implements bulk discounts, Why not Eazypass, seeing as their hourly earnings on Eazy pass are far higher.

Eazypass has been setup for several years now and all capital costs should be well offset. Eazypass requires minimum labour to operate, no person collecting cash, not paying Securicor / Brinks to deliver / collect takings, therefore greatly reduced overheads and cash is automayically in the Bank. Why are none of these savings passedon to the customer???

3 Bridge design is an absolute joke - when the second bridge was built why did the N4 not not join before and after the toll with a separate toll on the slip road. Basically if you are heading South, you should exit the M50 Prior to the Toll plaza and pay the tolls just before jong the N4. Heading North from the N4, you should not join the M50 untill after the toll somewhere between the Plaza and Blanch exits.

4 If you want people to use Eazypass - make it justifiable. I will probably upset a few people here but this needs a combination of a few things.
The Bulk of M50 users are all daily commuters - therefore eazy pass should be offering at the minimum, volume discounts, or a rolling discount, the more times you use it per month / quarter the cheaper it gets.
This would get people using it, then drop the cash lanes to 2/3 and let the Eazypass users get on with using it instead of waiting for an eternity to actually get to the tol where the eazypass only gains you moments.

5 Implement a proper traffic mangement system on the approach to the toll. If us daily commuters / Eazypass users are their Cash Cow then we should have be able to make proper progress along the entire M50 not just 100m before the toll.

6 Why are the tolls being inceased to pay for the widening of the M50, what about all the road tax that each motorist pays each year - One years road tax for the country to the exchequer would go along way to building an entire new M50.

7 Why is this earner not part of the National pension fund and why are monies paid to NTR being diverted to Airtricity, Irish Broadband etc and not 100% invested back into the business that the customer is crying out for and paying for.

The NTRs response about wait times, traffic volumes, road capacity and slip roads is a Cop out as far as I am concerned. There is not doubt that the M50 is under tremendous pressure but that does not hide the fact that due to complete planning and implementation incompetency the Plaza is a major factor also.

If its was soley the slip road / M50 capacity issue, then why can are there tailbacks on Saturdays and Sundays. I run a company and all I can say is that I wish it were that easy in the real world to have such a non competitive highly profitable, government protected business.

Rant over............. for now............. :mad:

Kernel

Would be funny if the government built a bridge beside the westlink, and diverted the M50 from the westlink to the new bridge. Oh how I would chuckle driving past the dead golden goose, killed by their own greed.

Oh, and if they want to get people to use easypass, they ought to have a 1euro easypass price forever and 1.80 cash price. People would soon switch when they save 80 cents.

tall chapy

The trouble with an alternative bridge on the M50, is that George Redmond and Padraig Flynn gave them such a good deal they even excluded this option by giving them the first mile of the M50 either side of the toll bridge. We have been fed the story, that nobody could have predicted the eventual numbers that would use the Toll Bridge.By putting in this clause, National Toll Roads (brainchild of Tom Roche, the founder of Roadstone and later CRH) seemed to have had an some idea car numbers would rise greatly. By controlling each side of the bridge they effectively have everyone snookered. Yet nobody in government could see this at the time.
Going forward if Bertie or whoever is in government gave someone a sweetheart deal tomorrow, and in 20 years time, we all cop on to it(whatever it is) what is in place now to ensure that no sweetheart deals are given and what sanctions are in place for sanction someone who has supplied a sweetheart deal... :rolleyes: :mad:

ismynametoolong

Dont forget the other rip off by westlink with the easy pass !!!
When your credit drops to € 12 there is an automatic top up taken on your cc . So i rang them and asked all the awkward questions like when do i get to use this € 12 Euro you taken € 40 worth of credit and only allowed me to use €28 I got really crappy answers so i kept at it and at it just to annoy them ! still did not get anywhere but enjoyed venting some annoyance at the poor unfortunate on the other end of the line .

NTR got some alledgly independent who i can only describe as an idiot to carry out a study/report on the toll bridge and he had the cheek to state on news talk 106 that the traffic jams on the m50 were nothing to do with the toll bridge and it was an optical illusion !!!!!!! My ASS

What was his brief we would like an honest independent analysis/ report that states the following !!!!!!!

Bet he got his € 100 K bill paid by NTR quick time

MrPudding

ismynametoolong wrote:

Dont forget the other rip off by westlink with the easy pass !!!
When your credit drops to € 12 there is an automatic top up taken on your cc . So i rang them and asked all the awkward questions like when do i get to use this € 12 Euro you taken € 40 worth of credit and only allowed me to use €28 I got really crappy answers so i kept at it and at it just to annoy them ! still did not get anywhere but enjoyed venting some annoyance at the poor unfortunate on the other end of the line .

A bit of a pain allright. You can reduce the amount at which they take a new payment, but there is still always dead money.

ismynametoolong wrote:

NTR got some alledgly independent who i can only describe as an idiot to carry out a study/report on the toll bridge and he had the cheek to state on news talk 106 that the traffic jams on the m50 were nothing to do with the toll bridge and it was an optical illusion !!!!!!! My ASS

I think most people are getting this bit wrong. NTR will freely admit that there are queues at the toll bridge and that they are caused by the toll bridge. Their arguement is that if you were not queuing there you would be queuing at the interchanges. In other words the toll bridge regulates the flow of traffic on the road.

I am not a defender of NTR but I think they might have a point there.

MrP

westtip

Ok let's resurrect this one. Not a post for a while and we are still sitting in queues. Good letter in the Irish Times about this one last Saturday - although for my mind the National Papers don't make enough of an issue of the disgrace of the M50 toll bridge - they should have it high on their agenda constantly until the government just does something. Here are some thoughts:

Direct Action: It worked on the bridge to the Isle of Skye, the people who lived on the island just refused to pay the tolls - they had automatic tolling and they simply kept getting court orders for not paying and let them go to hell - result the government had to buy out this PPP initiated by the Tories under Thatcher the bridge is now part of the Queen's highway. OK we can't refuse to pay the tolls, because of the barriers, so it counts this one out.

Go slow on the bridge. Hey I know this sounds crazy as we are all going slow enough. But if the truck drivers and haulage industry just parked a couple of trucks on either side of the bridge it would bring the entire motorway to a grinding halt. Sorry to all those it would inconvenience but it would continue to bring the monstrosity to the media attention again and again. The go slows on the UK motorways five years ago had a massive impact on the media.

It is only going to get worse when the tunnel opens - Trucks heading west or south will be sent through the tunnel to the M50 only to swing south on the M50 to get on the N4, N7 and N11 routes. It is going to cause complete havoc. In fact if I were a truck driver I would refuse to use the "free" tunnel only to be diverted onto a traffic jam going south on the M50 which they have to pay for the honour of sitting in. Why not crawl up the Quays and join the M50 south of the bridge. Ah I bet they didn't think of that one when they built the port tunnel.

There are other Direct Action options, semtex for the toll booths is out of the question, but a bit of super glue put on every coin you throw in the toll booth buckets might just give them the message, not to mention a bag of nails, screws, any other rubbish you find in your car. In fact the time spent in the queue could be spent cleaning the car out and depositing the lot in the toll buckets after your coins.

Of course there is democracy. A few single issue candidates in the next by-election - in every Dublin, Meath, Wicklow and Kildare constituency may just do the ticket. They would get my first preference. If they stood on the platform - We will support any party which gets into power who removes the tolls from the M50 Once the tolls are removed we will stand down for by-elections as our job will be done. There is merit in democracy. Anyone willing to take it on?

Or how about a a constitutional referendum - apparently that is almost what we would need to challenge this outrage.
Westtip:)

rondjon

westtip wrote:

Ok let's resurrect this one. Not a post for a while and we are still sitting in queues. Good letter in the Irish Times about this one last Saturday - although for my mind the National Papers don't make enough of an issue of the disgrace of the M50 toll bridge - they should have it high on their agenda constantly until the government just does something. Here are some thoughts:

Direct Action: It worked on the bridge to the Isle of Skye, the people who lived on the island just refused to pay the tolls - they had automatic tolling and they simply kept getting court orders for not paying and let them go to hell - result the government had to buy out this PPP initiated by the Tories under Thatcher the bridge is now part of the Queen's highway. OK we can't refuse to pay the tolls, because of the barriers, so it counts this one out.

Go slow on the bridge. Hey I know this sounds crazy as we are all going slow enough. But if the truck drivers and haulage industry just parked a couple of trucks on either side of the bridge it would bring the entire motorway to a grinding halt. Sorry to all those it would inconvenience but it would continue to bring the monstrosity to the media attention again and again. The go slows on the UK motorways five years ago had a massive impact on the media.

It is only going to get worse when the tunnel opens - Trucks heading west or south will be sent through the tunnel to the M50 only to swing south on the M50 to get on the N4, N7 and N11 routes. It is going to cause complete havoc. In fact if I were a truck driver I would refuse to use the "free" tunnel only to be diverted onto a traffic jam going south on the M50 which they have to pay for the honour of sitting in. Why not crawl up the Quays and join the M50 south of the bridge. Ah I bet they didn't think of that one when they built the port tunnel.

There are other Direct Action options, semtex for the toll booths is out of the question, but a bit of super glue put on every coin you throw in the toll booth buckets might just give them the message, not to mention a bag of nails, screws, any other rubbish you find in your car. In fact the time spent in the queue could be spent cleaning the car out and depositing the lot in the toll buckets after your coins.

Of course there is democracy. A few single issue candidates in the next by-election - in every Dublin, Meath, Wicklow and Kildare constituency may just do the ticket. They would get my first preference. If they stood on the platform - We will support any party which gets into power who removes the tolls from the M50 Once the tolls are removed we will stand down for by-elections as our job will be done. There is merit in democracy. Anyone willing to take it on?

Or how about a a constitutional referendum - apparently that is almost what we would need to challenge this outrage.
Westtip:)

Do you actually travel on the M50? Do you have your eyes open when you're driving on the M50? Are you Shane Ross in disguise?

It's not the Westlink that's the route of all evil on the M50. it's the very very poorly designed junctions before and after the Westlink bridge that are the main cause of the problems.

If you took the Westlink toll bridge away in the morning, you'd still be hosed getting through the section from Blanchardstown to Naas exits in both directions most of the day.

You're rant is outrageous in it's unfounded comments, and more particularly in it's incitement to committal of illegal activities.

denachoman

rondjon wrote:

Do you actually travel on the M50? Do you have your eyes open when you're driving on the M50? Are you Shane Ross in disguise?

It's not the Westlink that's the route of all evil on the M50. it's the very very poorly designed junctions before and after the Westlink bridge that are the main cause of the problems.

If you took the Westlink toll bridge away in the morning, you'd still be hosed getting through the section from Blanchardstown to Naas exits in both directions most of the day.

You're rant is outrageous in it's unfounded comments, and more particularly in it's incitement to committal of illegal activities.

Couldn't agree more rondjon. I use the M50 and the Westlink every day and the toll bridge is only ever badly backed up as a result of queues of traffic backing up onto it from the junctions either side of it. The junctions cause 95% of the problems and the toll bridge is just an easy target for people like Dunphy and Shane Ross who are trying to get cheap attention and publicity.

eirmail

zod wrote:

It should be no surprise that the share price of National Toll Roads
(NTR) has gone from €10 to €18 this year alone.

.

If it was so obvious to the writer or to anyone else that the share price was going to nearly double in a year I wonder why they didn't buy some shares in NTR a year ago.

westtip

rondjon wrote:

Do you actually travel on the M50? Do you have your eyes open when you're driving on the M50? Are you Shane Ross in disguise?

It's not the Westlink that's the route of all evil on the M50. it's the very very poorly designed junctions before and after the Westlink bridge that are the main cause of the problems.

If you took the Westlink toll bridge away in the morning, you'd still be hosed getting through the section from Blanchardstown to Naas exits in both directions most of the day.

You're rant is outrageous in it's unfounded comments, and more particularly in it's incitement to committal of illegal activities.

Yes of course I travel on the M50, Yes I have my eyes open, No I am not Shane Ross in disguise. but clearly you must work as a PRO for NTR.

The junctions are designed poorly on the M50, but they do not cause the major backlog, which is daily caused by the jackkifed truck called the toll barriers, If it is not the toll gates which cause the problems could you please explain why the traffic flows reasonably well either side of the toll gates??

Taking the toll booths away would make a significant difference to traffic flows on the M50, please don't bore me by saying otherwise. Of course traffic would still be slow in the mornings, that is the nature of the rush hour whereever you live. We flatter ourselves saying we need a three lane motorway around a small provincial city like Dublin and comparisons of the M50 with the M25 are laughable, although you didn't do this I have seen it in other places. Teh M25 is a motorway around a global metropolis, and surprisingly, despite the urban myths, traffic flows reasonably well on it, notwithstanding accidents - in particular since they introduced variable speed limits and have attempted to educate drivers to drive at a reasonable median speed. Speed limits are strictly adhered to because the photo gantries are so efficient at catching speedsters. With good traffic control the traffic on the M50 could move at a median speed of 40/45 mph in the mornings if managed properly - it is the toll gates which screw it up.

As for the incitement to misbehave on the toll gates. The suggested go-slow would be a statement by all those who don't share your view and do actually believe someone needs to be told to wake up to the fact; the toll gates on the M50 are a national disgrace. If they were working so well by the way why would the NRA have set such strict service level agreements on the toll operators who will be managing the M4 between Kilcock and Kinnegad - take a look at page 2 of todays Irish Times and I quote directly:

"The deal between the NRA and toll operator, Irish Spanish consortium Eurolink, is set to be a model for all toll road schemes. However it will not apply to Dublins East Link or to the notorious M50 West Link toll bridge"

I think the word "notorious" from this quote just about sums up the West link position, let us continue with the Irish Times and the quote from the NRA in that journal today:

"the West Link has not been a good experience for the motorist and we have no desire to repeat it" these are not my words but the words of the NRA, I do believe they shoudl know something about road management - although at times I do not agree with everything they say, do or plan.

To continue from the Irish Times:

"The NRA is concerned that reduced travel times and better journey experiences should not in future be whittled away by queuing at toll booths. It said yesterday the agreement (for the new M4 section) meant that if about five or six cars were queuing at toll in future PPP schemes the barriers would open" Can you imagine this on the M50 West Link! - I am not sure which planet you are actually on to be in denial about the role the toll gates play in screwing up the M50. All I know is that to drive from the N11/M50 junction (ie the start of the motorway) to the Airport - a journey of about 17 miles on a motorway- even at non peak times you need to allow 45 minutes, to take account of the toll booth delays. In other words you pay a toll to travel at a median speed of about 25 mph. Acceptable? I think not.

I suggest you take a look at the Service Level Agreement in place on the new M4 secton and compare it with the service delivery on the West link, my post was not a rant, it was a statement of well founded opinion, which has been well documented by many commentators in the past. Did you listen to Olivia O'Leary on five seven live the day the great Transport 21 was announced, she simply said Lift the gates and let the motorway flow. A view shared by many others.

Will I have my super glue ready on my coins ready for the next trip through the toll buckets? not yet decided, others can do as they will. In the meantime we can agree to differ in opinion. If you want a rant then listen to yourself, otherwise let's try to stick to rational discussion.

RainyDay

westtip wrote:

Ok let's resurrect this one. Not a post for a while and we are still sitting in queues. Good letter in the Irish Times about this one last Saturday - although for my mind the National Papers don't make enough of an issue of the disgrace of the M50 toll bridge - they should have it high on their agenda constantly until the government just does something. Here are some thoughts:

Direct Action: It worked on the bridge to the Isle of Skye, the people who lived on the island just refused to pay the tolls - they had automatic tolling and they simply kept getting court orders for not paying and let them go to hell - result the government had to buy out this PPP initiated by the Tories under Thatcher the bridge is now part of the Queen's highway. OK we can't refuse to pay the tolls, because of the barriers, so it counts this one out.

Go slow on the bridge. Hey I know this sounds crazy as we are all going slow enough. But if the truck drivers and haulage industry just parked a couple of trucks on either side of the bridge it would bring the entire motorway to a grinding halt. Sorry to all those it would inconvenience but it would continue to bring the monstrosity to the media attention again and again. The go slows on the UK motorways five years ago had a massive impact on the media.

It is only going to get worse when the tunnel opens - Trucks heading west or south will be sent through the tunnel to the M50 only to swing south on the M50 to get on the N4, N7 and N11 routes. It is going to cause complete havoc. In fact if I were a truck driver I would refuse to use the "free" tunnel only to be diverted onto a traffic jam going south on the M50 which they have to pay for the honour of sitting in. Why not crawl up the Quays and join the M50 south of the bridge. Ah I bet they didn't think of that one when they built the port tunnel.

There are other Direct Action options, semtex for the toll booths is out of the question, but a bit of super glue put on every coin you throw in the toll booth buckets might just give them the message, not to mention a bag of nails, screws, any other rubbish you find in your car. In fact the time spent in the queue could be spent cleaning the car out and depositing the lot in the toll buckets after your coins.

Of course there is democracy. A few single issue candidates in the next by-election - in every Dublin, Meath, Wicklow and Kildare constituency may just do the ticket. They would get my first preference. If they stood on the platform - We will support any party which gets into power who removes the tolls from the M50 Once the tolls are removed we will stand down for by-elections as our job will be done. There is merit in democracy. Anyone willing to take it on?

Or how about a a constitutional referendum - apparently that is almost what we would need to challenge this outrage.
Westtip:)

You realise that all that your recommendations will result (with the possible exception of the 'democracy' one) in further delays at the toll bridge. You're cutting off your nose to spite your face.

On the democracy issue, why are you waiting for someone else to take it on? If this is so important, why aren't you running for election yourself?

westtip

RainyDay wrote:

You realise that all that your recommendations will result (with the possible exception of the 'democracy' one) in further delays at the toll bridge. You're cutting off your nose to spite your face.

On the democracy issue, why are you waiting for someone else to take it on? If this is so important, why aren't you running for election yourself?

No pain no gain on the issue of blocking the bridge. A few trucks parked on the bridge for a couple of hours or on a go slow would make it national news - do it again and again and again they might must get the message. Bring the M50 to a grinding halt and they might just sit up and see people really are mad about this issue :mad: Don't get me wrong I actually haven't got a probleme with tolls - which is why the SLA's being put in place by the NRA on the M4 (see yesterdays Irish times and my post above) are so welcome. The NRA know the situation is dire on the West link and it must drive them mad. The main problem with the M50 toll is it is such bad value for money - you pay to travel slowly. you travel slowly because of the inefficiencies of the payment scheme. Apart from that - the contract for NTR was so poorly put together and highly suspect in terms of brown envelopes, it was after all signed on our behalf by George Redmond and PD flynn, the state should tear it up and say enough is enough, just because it is clearly a bad contract and protected by the holy grail of the law doesn't mean to say the Government of the day shouldn't do something about. They make the laws which govern the country and should address this issue forthwith - why? because so many people are saying so - and guess what it is the citizens of the country they are supposed to represent not the vested interests of NTR.

On the standing for TD issue - it would need a critical mass to make it worthwhile - standing in one constituency would be meaningless, stand in about 20 constituencies in Dublin/Leinster would have the effect of saying - this is an issue a lot of people care about. ACting as one person will not work, Acting as a group would, apart from that I can't afford to stand in an election.

westtip

RainyDay wrote:

On the democracy issue, why are you waiting for someone else to take it on? If this is so important, why aren't you running for election yourself?

Seems Martin "e-voting" Cullen and his cronies are finally waking up to the fact people are p.....ed off with this situation. Give them some direct action out with the Superglue, get the coins covered, screw up the toll bridge.

Sizzler

How the fook are they going to charge all the eastern european cars if they go ahead with that magical idea of taking pics of car regs? That wud be some laugh wudnt it....

westtip

Saddler wrote:

How the fook are they going to charge all the eastern european cars if they go ahead with that magical idea of taking pics of car regs? That wud be some laugh wudnt it....

Not to mention all the cars from the other jurisdiction on this small island of ours. Mind you fair play to the North they gave GB a great send off.

RainyDay

westtip wrote:

Seems Martin "e-voting" Cullen and his cronies are finally waking up to the fact people are p.....ed off with this situation.

That's a fairly naive interpretation. They are actually waking up to the fact that there is an election just 18 months away.

westtip wrote:

Give them some direct action out with the Superglue, get the coins covered, screw up the toll bridge.

OK - give us a rest with the ranting. Just go out there tomorrow & do it and let's see what happens. Less talk, more action.

zod

bought out see here

MorningStar

The article is really incredibbly misleading. The QWERTY keyboard was never designed to frustrate the user but to solve a problem of keys getting stuck against each other . The alternative keyboards have not been proved to be any more successful.

The belief that as the road doesn't meet our current needs therfore it was wrong is stupidity. People buy a 3 bed house and the end up having two sets of twins do you call the people stupid for having extra kids. Somethings are out of the control of planners. Decades of underfunding can not disappear in a few short years.

For what ever reason people will assume, any thing they seem to think is baddly designed, is a result of corruption. No proof ,knowledge of engineering, knowledge of the plans or knowledge of what actually people have been charged with.. Not saying there has not been corruption but to assume everything is corruption is just stupid. In fact if you truely believe in the corruption it takes 3 groups of people 1 to bribe, 1 to accept and 1 to buy the property. Nobody ever wants to blame the last person as it means they might have to act responsibily themselves.

zod

MorningStar wrote:

The alternative keyboards have not been proved to be any more successful..

At what ? stoping keys sticking together - we don't have that issue anymore - but we still have the keyboard layout. And other formats have proved to be a lot faster!

MorningStar wrote:

Decades of underfunding can not disappear in a few short years...

And bad planning takes even longer - witness the red cow roundabout.

MorningStar wrote:

For what ever reason people will assume, any thing they seem to think is baddly designed, is a result of corruption.

If they are not corrupt then they are just plain stupid.

Steve

I think the amount you pay should be proportional to the benefit you receive. In Japan for instance, you take a ticket from a machine to enter the motorway and pay at whichever exit you choose based on the distance you've travelled. The traffic flows freely on the actual road because there are no barriers to obstruct it.
Why couldn't this be implemented here - toll the exits. Premium exits (e.g. red cow) could have a higher charge indicating the increased benefit of that exit. Lesser used exits could be cheaper thereby providing an incentive to use them and relieve congestion at the busier ones.
I also think that the toll should decrease proportionally with the length of time you have to queue - thereby giving the toll operator an incentive to give a more efficient service.

I agree, reluctantly, that removing the toll plaza will not solve anything - it will just re-locate the queues to the already straining exits - which I believe are a much bigger issue than the toll.
It would be a huge waste of our dosh for no benefit (except perhaps in the short term to the politicians who'll get re-elected on the back of it) and would leave the coffers bare with no hope of tackling the re-located bottlenecks.

so - ditch the toll plaza, let NTR build more exits in places that will actually get people where they want to go. Have a queueing 'discount' as the stick to keep the exits flowing. NTR get their tolls, the motorist gets a tangible benefit for using the road. There's not been a huge waste of money.

[rant]
I know there may be lots reasons this can't work - I'm just sick of the narrow minded reactive approach the government are taking. There is plainly no lateral thinking being put into trying to solve this.
[/rant]