FIRST the bad news for millions of Mersey Tunnel users – the toll is going up by 10p on April Fool’s Day. The good news, it could be much worse: the Labour dominated transport executive could slap another 20p on the toll if they wanted to.
The transport executive meets on Thursday to set the tunnel tolls for the forthcoming year. Until then it’s a recommendation.
It was the then Transport Minister Winston Churchill who slapped tolls on the Birkenhead tunnel in the 1930s. The row at the time over whether the tunnel should be toll free was resolved by imposing a charge – until the debt was cleared.
Power
The decision to build the Wallasey Tunnel (Kingsway) put that little arrangement onto the back burner.
But now Merseytravel doesn’t have to break even, it can make a profit from the tunnels and use the annual windfall to fund other transport expenditure. To be fair some of the money could well be used to keep the cherished Mersey Ferries afloat.
The authority has the power to increase the tolls in line with inflation, so a toll of £1.80p could be set.
Regulars who sign up for a fast-tag make the journey at a reduced price, but even that looks like increasing this year by 10p to £1.40.
There will be corresponding increases for goods vehicles and coaches using the tunnels.
Picture by John Bradley, probably
Merseytravel say executive members consider a number of factors, primarily ensuring enough money is raised to cover the costs of operating, maintaining and investment in the tunnels. There also needs to be a reserve to cover any unplanned emergency work be necessary.
Every year around 37m vehicles use the two tunnels £1.60p there is a surplus of between £5m and £7m a year after all the running costs and interest on the debts have been paid.
The news will come as a blow to campaigners calling for the tunnel tolls to be scrapped altogether to give the city region a massive economic boost.
