COMMENT: Multi-point tolling on M50 is a non-runner

THE prospect of introducing multi-point tolling on the M50 has raised its ugly head again.

Last week, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport was told that the measure was necessary to prevent “intolerable” congestion on Dublin’s main motorway. Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) warned that the M50 is facing failure if tolling is not extended to all entry points along the route.

There’s little doubt that the M50 is at breaking point, as most daily commuters will attest. Even the most minor incident can result in endless gridlock in both directions thanks to so-called rubberneckers slowing down to have peek across the central median. 

Getting to an appointment or meeting across the city requires military precision planning as you need to factor in expected delays on the M50, even at non-peak times. I am regularly forced off the M1 at Dublin Airport when there is a collision, which can add an hour or more to what should be a 25-minute drive.

We all agree that further investment in public transport needs to happen to relieve congestion on our roads. However, I remain at a loss to understand how further tolls on the M50 will help the situation in the short to medium-term.

As it is, many commuters find it difficult to even get out of their housing estates every morning during rush hour. Multi-point tolling will inevitably have the effect of increasing traffic on smaller roads in residential areas. 

Since the introduction of electronic tags, toll charges have now simply become another household bill, with funds sucked from your bank account every month. Even visiting relatives or bringing the kids to soccer matches on the other side of the city can hit you hard in the pocket.

Politically, the introduction of multi-point tolling on the M50 is going to be a hard sell. This daft proposal needs to be shelved until we get MetroLink and all the other public transport goodies we’ve been promised.

It’s time we stopped punishing motorists for the lack of action by successive governments over the past few decades. It’s not a case that we have a love affair with our cars. Many of us simply just don’t have any viable public transport alternatives – and no amount of tolling is going to change that.