Cameron on roads
Cycloslalomeur
Posts: 349
So your dear leader wants to move passengers and heavy goods on to the railways AND build more motorways and lanes on A roads. Eh? What's the point in the latter if road congestion is eased by the former? Unless of course he has no intention of investing in the railways.
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Can we have a Bottom Bracket sub forum - Lefty Spouting - where everyone can flag up government failings to their hearts' content without troubling the rest of us. And when Milliband takes over we can set up another one on similar lines where we can rip the pee out of his half-witted poorly thought out idealistic and unworkable schemes.
Fair?
Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved
What a brilliant idea.
Because in France the toll roads are so amazing - OMG.
and if we had them it'd be awesome
because by French standards it would only cost a measly, pittance, say £60+ one-way to go from London to Scotland
bargain!
and naturally the government - nice people that they are would naturally decrease fuel tax - no honest they would
Agree with you apart from one point. Why would anyone want to go from London to Scotland?
- @ddraver
A word picked up from work when things go badly wrong :oops:
I think at the moment private companies are commissioned to build them after tender.
However, one could get a company to take on a road for (say) twenty years. The company would be in charge of up keep and initial investment etc. In return the government would pay them (over the odds*) through some PFI scheme/loan/lease. And we would "save" money because we could get rid of that pesky^ inconvenient tender/commission stage, and in effect the company gets a nice and convenient monopoly and source of revenue. The government in return for screwing over the tax-payer, gets to keep this disaster off the books.
*if history from all other PFI is anything to go by
^pesky for the companies that have to bid for contracts - would be easier for them if they didn't have to /sarcasm
In my experience, to get out ASAP.
You could equally reverse the question. Why would anyone want to go from Scotland to London?
I've been in some amazing cities and London has some sights but I am in no rush to go back thank you very much.
a) It wasn't mentioned at election time
b) Previous attempts at introducing more tolls have been very unpopular
c) The p word, not much good has come out of privatisation
Of course, there are sound arguments for it, and some roads are very busy and there is no money for investment, but the British public just doesn't seem to like the idea of toll roads.
Shadow tolling.
Tolls work OK if there is a suitable alternative route. The M6 toll is pretty good as people can decide whether it is worth paying a few quid to avoid sitting in a jam but having tolls on the only 2 decent roads into South Wales (whilst undoubtably good for the toll operator who has a captive audience) can't be good for growth in the area!
It's not privatising per se but involving the private sector in providing the road network. It's about being able to provide a sustainable road network and getting more for less over an extended period.
The road network would as now, in general, be funded out of the public purse but government agencies (such as the Highways Authority) would not be responsible for maintaining them. It takes place now in several areas such as the A1-M1 link in West Yorkshire. nb, the M6 link (and toll roads) work on a fundamentally different model.
Under the proposed model the cost of running a road is 'smoothed' over the life of the contract rather than being subject to variances such as unplanned maintenance and 'routine' upgrades. Government budgeting becomes easier, private sector is 'guaranteed' income over a set period and they have access to investment (ie loans) at lower rates of interest. On top of that the "service" to the customer improves.
Or that's the idea.
Bob
The guarantee of income is what confuses me about the models of privatisation that are pursued.
The theory is that private companies are supposedly lean, efficient, innovative, and productive due to commercial pressures, and competition. Companies need to continually strive for good performance etc to stay afloat. Therefore getting private companies to do public-sector work sounds like a good idea, and in some cases is.
However, when companies are installed to take on large public infrastructure, the commercial pressure and competitive environment that once made then "good" is no longer there. Instead it's replaced with the guaranteed income and subsidy, making it a one-way bet, and they no longer require innovation or efficiency to keep them in business.
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-s ... ndon-mayor
That matters not one jot where as the transport system is fundemental to an economy.
The 'Never mind' was in jest. Prob should have put a better smiley
Understood, I did have you down as more thoughtful than that
My thoughts exactly.
The above post may contain traces of sarcasm or/and bullsh*t.
I wouldn't put telecoms in that list as it is actually a fairly open and competitive market now.
People will ALWAYS MOAN ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT I just enjoy it more when it's a tory one.
The above post may contain traces of sarcasm or/and bullsh*t.
When 'they' say the roads should be built by private companies, 'they' mean that the private companies should also finance the road; rather than the Government. Those private companies then maintain the road for a concession period and recoup the construction and maintenance costs through Shadow Tolls.
So a payment is paid to the private company - by the Government - for each vehicle which uses the road. Also opportunity for additional payments for delivering safety schemes or penalties for road works creating lack of capacity at peak times. These are just examples - it depends what is written into the contract.
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People will ALWAYS MOAN ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT I just enjoy Moaning.[/quote]
FTFY
and trucks won't go anywhere near it... it's been a complete white elephant... destroying acres of countryside and putting yet another 'barrier' between communities to the north and south...