Dartford Crossing Cashless From November 30th

Thanks for the heads up, not seen this. Now set up an account (took all of 5 minutes). The only slightly sore point being that the minimum trigger value for auto top-up is £10, which given that I use the crossing no more than 4 times a year seems a bit steep!

On the traffic flows, for me it's a definite reason to use the east side of the M25 - I'm normally pretty reticent due to a few occasions where I've been stuck in the queue for the tunnel/bridge for up to 4 hours.

Hmm - they account setup asks for an initial minimum of £10. Nice. One way of ensuring a large amount of money is donated into the company coffers to earn interest until it's used.

Smart business move.

Don Tmatter said:

Can anyone who was around at time of Tunnel opening remember that there was only to be a toll until the construction costs had been covered? I'm sure a relative told me that the toll wasnt to be permanent

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The 'toll' is now officially a congestion charge, just like central London.

I'm not sure when the change was made, but I always found it odd that the extra revenue from price increases would far outweigh the cost of maintaining the thing, hence asking the question in the first place. I wrote this article last year about the changes, which might shed a bit more light on why they are doing it, and what they hope to achieve.


Charge ahead

The Dartford Crossing, one of the most loathed stretches of road – in both directions – in England, is to undergo a major overhaul. In an attempt to drastically reduce congestion, and improve journey times for the 150,000-odd vehicles that use the sections of tarmac that run over and under the River Thames to the East of London every year, the authorities have proposed free-flow measures along the chargeable route, which will see a shift to automated payments for all. The project will mean the removal of barriers, an introduction of ANPR technology, and alteration of the road layout.
The costs of the project are estimated at between £68 and £84 million, and these form part of a total contract worth between £237 and £478 million. "These figures include the set-up and operational costs over a seven-to-10-year period," explains Nigel Gray, project lead at the Highways Agency, confirming that these figures are set to be finalised by the end of the year.
"This greater estimate includes new customer charging and enforcement management services to administer the operation, infrastructure works to provide open traffic lanes north and southbound, safe removal of plaza and barriers, and new traffic control measures to ensure continued safety and integrity of the tunnels," confirms Gray.
Improvements to the Dartford-Thurrock section of road also includes the installation of what Gray referrs to as "roadside technology and communication links", namely automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) and beacon equipment to capture vehicle registrations and tags.
*"The Crossing was designed to handle 135,000 vehicle movements a day but it is not uncommon for 160,000 to occur," reasons Gray. "On top of that, traffic flows are expected to increase by a fifth over the next 30 years, due to the anticipated development in the Thames Gateway region. The Dartford crossing sees more than 50 million vehicle crossings made each year, which exceeds its design capacity, leading to congestion.
"The new charging system is part of a package of measures to improve crossing capacity," he adds. "Currently, the charge can be suspended when an emergency causes severe congestion at the crossing, and this will continue with the new crossing is fully operational. In the medium term, this free-flow project means that the barriers will be removed and remote payment will be introduced, and in the long term there are plans for a Lower Thames Crossing.
The technology provider for the ANPR and beacon systems has not yet been selected, but Gray is keen to stress that it is an area that will be subject to careful consideration. The more effective the system, the more chance there is of greater revenues, the and traffic running smoother in both directions. The Highways Agency man maintains he will take a hard line in the name of free-flow traffic: "Tackling evasion where drivers do not pay the congestion charge*will be*a key component of the*remote payment scheme.*Enforcement regulations have been drafted and include provision to impose penalty charges within maximum permissible values and debt recovery processes. Such penalty charges and recovery processes will be executed to tackle non-compliant uses who do not pay the road user charge."
Tough talk on non-compliance, then, but there is a great deal of work to be done before the project team get to that stage. To date work has included the progression of two new pieces of legislation to support a ‘free-flow’ charging arrangement at the crossing, and preparation of the engineering and road infrastructure design. These elements are working towards installation of the hardware, which is approaching fast.
"The vehicle detection on-road technology required for the free-flow charging project will be in place in Summer 2014, while the removal of the plazas and road infrastructure work will start from October 2014," confirms Gray. This initial development work will be followed by testing and validation of the equipment and systems, in anticipation for the remote payment arrangement to be introduced in October 2014. "The actual road layout changes, including removal of the existing booths, cannot happen until the new arrangement is in operation, so as soon as it is, that work will start," says Gray. To take advantage of low-volume traffic flows, on-road improvements will be carried out overnight and at weekends. This part of the project is expected to be completed by early 2015.
"Road users will see improvements in journey times very quickly but to remove the existing barriers and plaza to achieve the new road layout will take time," says Gray. "Safety is our top priority and we need to ensure the ongoing safe operation of the crossing during this time. There will be a system to monitor and control the northbound traffic entering the tunnels, to ensure that over height vehicles, vehicles with abnormal loads and vehicles with dangerous loads continue to be managed correctly.
Under a separate project, the safety systems in the tunnel are already undergoing a process of upgrading to the latest standards, and these will be completed before free-flow operations commence.
The preferred method of payment will be advanced charging, with Gray assuring that discounts will be available for those who set up an account and keep it topped up. "These discounts vary by vehicle class – 33% for cars, and between 12 and 13% for goods vehicles," he says. "Drivers choosing not to set up an account will have up to midnight on the day after they cross to pay the standard charge. The penalty charge for non-payment will be £70, with a reduced rate of £35 if paid within 14 days. If the penalty is not paid within 28 days it would increase to*£105.
Until the identity of the technology provider is revealed it will be difficult to gauge the potential effectiveness of the systems used and their impact on fighting congestion and moving road charging in the UK forwards. Gray, however, is confident that the scheme will be a success, and is drawing from results projects in England's capital. "The system itself is similar to the London congestion charge, and lessons have been learned from this, and other similar schemes," he concludes.


The cost to cross
Charges for the use of the Dartford crossing have always been a bone of contention for UK road users, and this looks set to continue with the changes to the road network. Officially called a "congestion charge", the cost of using the tunnel (anti-clockwise) and bridge (clockwise) will be based on a two-stage increase. The first stage came into effect in October 2012 but a further increase is to be made at the point that remote payment is introduced (to £2.50 for cars, £3 for 2 axle vehicles and £6 for heavy goods vehicles). It was recently announced that locals will be able to take advantage of a £20 a year surcharge.
In the current discount scheme local drivers are charged £10 a year for 50 free journeys and 20p per journey after that.

dazzer6666 said:

This....works fine. In the US the rental company just charge your credit card. Easy.

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In th US you have a choice of either going through the pay cash toll or the Auto toll, I accidentally went through the cash one and did not stop (honest mistake) when I asked at the next toll about it she said don't worry nothing will happen and it didn't. Yes the Auto toll is easier so it can be charged to cc but a bit more expensive.

Choice is yours.

pb21 said:

Hmm surprising, with all due respect to these traffic experts I wonder how they are arriving at those estimates, it's not as if there is any precedence for this before on the m25. As you say the western section is always ridiculous, why anyone would choose to go that way, rather than East and logon afterwards to pay and save time, everything else being equal is beyond me. It's not as if the Internet is new these days, and it can be automated too!

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Like you, I was a little sceptical about the figures. Wonder whether it was a ploy to get some extra publicity and a little bit of press work ( or am I just being cynical as usual )

I use the crossing a lot and coming south is often time wasting when the traffic sits or crawls over the bridge.

Set up the account today, great that its cheaper, 1.67 but this is offset by having to keep the account £10 in credit, thats over 100,000 people signed up so far and all paying a £10 advance deposit.

What I cannot tell as yet is, do you have to sign into your account in advance to notify or will it use number plate recognition to site your crossing and deduct from your funds automatically.

Horton's halftime iceberg said:

What I cannot tell as yet is, do you have to sign into your account in advance to notify or will it use number plate recognition to site your crossing and deduct from your funds automatically.

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I agree the website is poor/not clear but surely, besides the discount, the main point of a pre payment account is so you don't need to sign in each time you cross?

Mtoto said:

Hopefully it will be just as effective as it was when they did the same thing to the M50 around Dublin. When the booths were there, the whole thing could be completely gridlocked for much of the day. It's transformed since they went to a cashless system.

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Was a pretty horrendous few months of teething problems - mainly for the operator with people *not* being charged, but some customer care issues too - but the queues are gone and the system has worked for years now. The tag toll is 10c (5%) higher than it was half a decade and more ago now more or less in part due to the collection cost savings.

El Sid said:

I recently got a speeding ticket on the A24 at a time when I was safely tucked up in bed. When I challenged the ticket they admitted the camera wrongly read my number plate. They cancelled the ticket.

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Someone else's number plate, surely

In related news....... What happened to the roundabouts on the A1? We went to York on Saturday (via the crossing) and traffic permitting it is foot down all the way.

Mo Gosfield said:

No it won't....spoke to an independent traffic expert yesterday and he and fellow experts are predicting a rise in M25 traffic travelling west of between 22-28%.
Bearing in mind that some of the ' western ' sections ( around Heathrow/M4/M40 ) are the busiest in Europe, I suggest we are in for some fun and games. Beware any snarl ups. You ain't seen nothing yet.

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An obvious solution would be to charge people traveling west as well.

A better solution would be too stop charging.

Ks halftime iceberg;6665251]I use the crossing a lot and coming south is often time wasting when the traffic sits or crawls over the bridge.

Set up the account today, great that its cheaper, 1.67 but this is offset by having to keep the account £10 in credit, thats over 100,000 people signed up so far and all paying a £10 advance deposit.

What I cannot tell as yet is, do you have to sign into your account in advance to notify or will it use number plate recognition to site your crossing and deduct from your funds automatically.[/QUOTE]


This really is a very clever extortion scheme. I guess that I use the crossing about once every 3 years, certainly not enough to justify opening a pre payment account which holds a minimum of £10 at all times.

Last week my job entailed me getting a flight from Stanstead, always dislike this as it means driving straight past Gatwick which is bloody annoying. Anyway, having decided against the account option I drove through the crossing in the full knowledge of the requirements for payment. Once I had arrived in my European destination I set about paying the charge via the interweb. But that annoying bit when you cannot get your WiFi connection to do as you expect but it steadfastly refuses became even more annoying once home and I discovered that the charge for late/non payment is £70!!!!!! (reduced to £35 for speedy payment).

My gripe is this, the advance payment option has been designed to dissuade occasional users, you can no longer pay cash, the penalty could be better designed to fit the 'offence', maybe £10 for couple of days late, £25 for a week late, £50 thereafter? I will try to contact the enforcement agency but expect no luck, harumph!

wellquickwoody said:

.

Last week my job entailed me getting a flight from Stanstead, always dislike this as it means driving straight past Gatwick which is bloody annoying. Anyway, having decided against the account option I drove through the crossing in the full knowledge of the requirements for payment. Once I had arrived in my European destination I set about paying the charge via the interweb. But that annoying bit when you cannot get your WiFi connection to do as you expect but it steadfastly refuses became even more annoying once home and I discovered that the charge for late/non payment is £70!!!!!! (reduced to £35 for speedy payment).

My gripe is this, the advance payment option has been designed to dissuade occasional users, you can no longer pay cash, the penalty could be better designed to fit the 'offence', maybe £10 for couple of days late, £25 for a week late, £50 thereafter? I will try to contact the enforcement agency but expect no luck, harumph!

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Dartsave would suit you, they don't 'fine' you for not paying straight away

Superphil said:

Dartsave would suit you, they don't 'fine' you for not paying straight away

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Thank you, that is brilliant! Just wish I had known about it earlier, I will be sharing this with as many people as possible.

It really does show what should have been done officially, instead of the rip off that has been imposed.