Comment: No way to treat commuters

Feb 5 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

MERSEYTRAVEL’S latest tunnel toll increase has provoked widespread anger among commuters, businesses and some politicians.

However, this furious response is in danger of obscuring the shoddy way in which the actual decision to impose the toll rise was taken. For, in addition to having to find the extra cash, drivers will do so in the knowledge that only six of the region’s transport authority board of 18 agreed to the increase.

All those who voted against were Wirral representatives, those who voted in favour were predominantly Labour councillors from Liverpool, Knowsley, and Sefton, while those abstaining were Liberal Democrats.

For obscure party political reasons, which will be of interest to hardly anyone and will convince even fewer, the leader of Merseytravel’s Lib-Dem group said they took the decision to abstain because they did not want a three-way split in the way they voted.

That will be a great comfort to the thousands of drivers who now face being hit in the pocket by these increases, on top of all the other rising costs to which they are exposed. But this cynical manip- ulation of the voting system is an affront to democracy and simply adds fuel to the suspicions of those who believe that tunnel users are simply being exploited as an easy source of cash.

Merseytravel clearly has no intention of ever abolishing the tolls, even after all its debts have been paid, which (according to Merseytravel chairman Mark Dowd) will not be until 2048.

In a way, it is now impossible that the tunnels ever could be free, as it would almost certainly lead to total gridlock.

This leads to a wider debate about whether the tunnels are still "fit for pur- pose" and what other arrangements could be made for people travelling be- tween Liverpool and Wirral. But Mersey- travel’s case is made no easier by the un- derhand way in which such toll increas- es are taken. It will be up to each indiv- idual member to justify their actions when they are next up for re-election.