Smartcard-based road toll schemes get financial boost

Recent reports indicate UK smartcard-based road toll schemes may get a boost from road tax revenues.

Reuters reports that the revenues will now go to local government rather going straight to the Treasury. The £30bn boost will be ploughed straight back into roads and transportation. Anti-pollution road toll schemes have high hopes of attracting some of the money.

Anti-pollution schemes have already been trialled in Leicester and Dunfermline. Smartcards are used to debit road users' accounts as they pass under a reader to enter the city. The cost of entry varies with current levels of pollution.

The Dunfermline and Leicester trials have now finished, but the organisers are calling for further experiments to be conducted. Eddie Tyrer, coordinator for the Leicester Environmental Road Tolling Scheme (Lerts), said: "There are still a lot of things we need to find out before we can roll out an effective road tolling plan. It's going to take 3 to 5 years before we are in the position to start. Getting the right level of financing is a prerequisite to do this."

The Lerts scheme involved a PC-based control centre, one kerbside reader and 100 smartcard units situated in volunteers' cars. The infrastructure for the trial cost £150,000.