West Link Toll Bridge

The General

Stop complaining about the 30 cent increase, and in future when you drive up have a look in the slot where your money falls out if it doesnt go into the machine properly because theres always money in it. Id say 80% of the time i dont pay for this reason i just get whoever is in the car with me to get out and grab the money and throw it in again. ***Problem Solved***

BrianD3

i just get whoever is in the car with me to get out and grab the money

I'd say you're popular with the drivers in the queue behind you....

BrianD3

The General

Everyone to their own, who cares what every one else thinks.

lomb

ur exactly rite it doesnt really matter what any one else thinks.

however consider this, the government which is supposed to represent the people screwed dublin, its people, and the irish economy by designing and building a very major road that had 2 lanes and then forking out bridge construction to a monopoly that is making what the bridge cost every other year. the bridge and its toll booths lead to an addition of an average 15minute addition and up to 3/4 hour addition to any journey at peak that involves that involves using it. the loss to the irish economy and damage to the environment is unquantifiable but it is significant.

to raise the toll adds insult to injury thats why people are unhappy.

to make matters worse not one of the politicians... [edited by Mike65 to avoid Dev having to say "your honour"]...company.

MrPudding

lomb wrote:

to make matters worse not one of the politicians... [edited by Mike65 to avoid Dev having to say "your honour"]...company.

I would expect that you should probably post some some links to backup your accusations. I am not agreeing or disagreeing with you, it just when you make accusations you really need to back them up.

MrP

Our man in Havana

Moderater wrote:

Stop complaining about the 30 cent increase, and in future when you drive up have a look in the slot where your money falls out if it doesnt go into the machine properly because theres always money in it. Id say 80% of the time i dont pay for this reason i just get whoever is in the car with me to get out and grab the money and throw it in again. ***Problem Solved***

This is theft! Hope they catch you on camera:D

sweeper4

Bond-007 wrote:

This is theft! Hope they catch you on camera:D

How - who is he stealing from? Hardly NTR as they have received their full extortion regardless of rejected coins. Have not heard of them tracing the affected people and returning the money, so are they stealing when they empty out this cash?!!

gerrydublin

lomb wrote:

ur exactly rite it doesnt really matter what any one else thinks.

however consider this, the government which is supposed to represent the people screwed dublin, its people, and the irish economy by designing and building a very major road that had 2 lanes and then forking out bridge construction to a monopoly that is making what the bridge cost every other year. the bridge and its toll booths lead to an addition of an average 15minute addition and up to 3/4 hour addition to any journey at peak that involves that involves using it. the loss to the irish economy and damage to the environment is unquantifiable but it is significant.

to raise the toll adds insult to injury thats why people are unhappy.

to make matters worse not one of the politicians... [edited by Mike65 to avoid Dev having to say "your honour"]...company.

Be careful what you say, because you might get some people believing that it was agreed by central government when clearly the record shows it was agreed by local government. NOT sure if Liam Lawlor was in the local government at the time, because there are no official freely available documents available to say who were the councillors who agreed the deal.
but its important to note therefore it has little or nothing to do with TD's, its local councillors who are to blame! This seems to be a point lost on many people who don't know the difference between someone elected to look after the good of the nation and someone elected to look after the good of their constituency ONLY.

lomb

http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/wsm/news/2001/tollroad_may24.html

"it a matter of record...paid liam lalwor "


http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2001/04/04/current/ipage_5.htm

FX Meister

I'm with Moderater here, I always look in teh rejected coin slot and on the ground and usually end up getting my toll paid and a euro or two on top.

lomb

is this on the fast pay (no change) toll lane?

Seth Brundle

Bringing this debate back to life is Sen. Shane Ross who is setting up an action group insisting that the M50 be re-opened.
http://www.shane-ross.ie/m50.htm
He has a form there that you can email Bertie A., Martin Cullen & Jim Barry (CE of NTR).
Go on, sign it!!!

ambro25

Pardon my fresh-immigrant ignorance about the whole bridge-building background, but wasn't it partly financed by the EU? Or a goodly portion of the M50 at least? That'd make quite a nicer return for the parties sharing in the proceeds...

sharkman

kbannon wrote:

Bringing this debate back to life is Sen. Shane Ross who is setting up an action group insisting that the M50 be re-opened.
http://www.shane-ross.ie/m50.htm
He has a form there that you can email Bertie A., Martin Cullen & Jim Barry (CE of NTR).
Go on, sign it!!!

I think that deserves a stickie !!!!

lomb

MrPudding wrote:

I would expect that you should probably post some some links to backup your accusations. I am not agreeing or disagreeing with you, it just when you make accusations you really need to back them up.

MrP

From Sunday Independant jan/9/05
SHANE ROSS and NICK WEBB

FORMER EU Commissioner Padraig Flynn and disgraced ex-planning official George Redmond signed the controversial multimillion-euro deal for the operation of the West-Link Toll Bridge with National Toll Roads Ltd.

Documents obtained by the Sunday Independent reveal the identities of those who signed the lucrative August 1987 deal, which gives NTR ownership of the bridge until 2020. The arrangement has made NTR and its shareholders extraordinarily wealthy over the last two decades.

The company is dominated by the Roche family.

The documents show that Flynn signed the deal in his capacity as Environment Minister, prior to his elevation to EU Commissioner, with Redmond involved as the then assistant Dublin city and county manager. Redmond signed off on the contract in August 1987, with Flynn rubberstamping the deal nearly three months later.

Former Fine Gael councillor Tom Hand was also a signatory to the complex deal.

The Mahon tribunal heard that the late Mr Hand was alleged to have asked Frank Dunlop for €250,000 to support the Quarryvale application in Liffey Valley. Dunlop also alleged that Hand had asked for €12,700 to sign a rezoning motion.

Fianna Fail councillor Paddy Hickey also signed the deal, which was initially approved by Minister John Boland in the final days of the Fine Gael/Labour coalition.

NTR makes close to €160,000 per day from motorists queueing up to use the toll bridge. There was public outrage recently when the privately owned company hiked up its toll rates 20 per cent to €1.80 per car, the fourth rise in just over three years.

The hike has come as a shock to drivers, in the light of the original traffic projections for the M50. Forecasts in the mid-Eighties, presented to the county council, suggested that the number of vehicles would rise to 45,000 per day by the year 2020. Last year they were already running at double that figure.

NTR's coffers will be bulging further from the latest toll increase, despite Government opposition to the move. Traffic minister Ivor Callely wrote to NTR asking it to reconsider the recent price rise, which was well above the rate of inflation.

NTR is an extraordinarily profitable company, with its tolling operations racking up €11m in pre-tax profits in 2003. While figures for 2004 have yet to emerge, half-year results showed that NTR earned pre-tax profits of €7.9m in the first six months of 2004. This would leave it in line to report profits of nearly €15m for the full year from the toll business alone.

Goodbody Stockbrokers recently estimated that the entire company, which also includes energy and waste management divisions, could deliver revenues of €340m in 2005, with operating profits of more than €51m.

The company has said that the increase was a once-off price hike connected to the €23m cost of building of an extra lane on the bridge in 2003. NTR says that of the €1.80 charged for a single car using the link, €1 goes to the State in the form of taxes, municipal rates and licence fees, while out of the 30 cent increase, 21 cent goes to the State.

There is increasing speculation that the Government may be forced to examine the NTR operation of the toll bridges, with some suggestions that it may offer to buy out the toll business. This would cost an estimated €400m, according to some reports.

mike65

Thanks for the article Lomb, as for a sticky sharkman, well...okay! For a while anyway.

Mike.