Looking at it from another way, shouldn't road users be made to pay fully for road usage, AND rail users also for rail? Smart Cards can now register milage used by cars and lorries, and (with GPS) monitor which roads were traveled; then roads and rail would be on an equal footing (possibly including subsidies for the poor/old for both road and rail). This would probably put more people on rail, and would also encourage freight to use rail also, especially for longer travel, thus lowering costs for rail travel. The tremendous cost overruns for the Cambridge and Luton busways demonstrate that rail is much cheaper and easier to build and maintain, as well as costing less for environmental damage; these could be built into the formulas for charging for use on each mode of transport. Sam
I can hear the cries of anguish from Middle England already! Pay per mile, and be monitored by the state! The Daily Mail would go into a hysterical meltdown.....!!
But seriously, schemes like this are in operation in some countries. Last time I was in Austria I noted that they had a smart payment scheme whereby the driver (I was on a coach trip with my wife) had a smartbox in the cab which was read by regular readers built along the autobahns. The idea is you buy in advance of travel, topping up the box with credits which are then deducted as you travel. To assist people arriving into Austria there are service stations in neighbouring countries (well in Germany at least) where you can buy credits before crossing the border. So it does happen.
Funnily enough on our trip, as we approached the border the driver told us to listen for the beeps from the box, 1 for plenty of credit, 2 for getting low, and 3 for uh oh we're in trouble. He got the shock of his life when we crossed and said box emitted 4 beeps! So it was off to the first service station were he was informed that the box had no credit, and it was 4 beeps not 3 to indicate this. This was news to said driver as the previous one had assured him that there was plenty left from the company's last trip into Austria.
However a couple of days later, on the autobahn the police pulled us up as when we had crossed the border it had triggered an alert that the coach had a previous outstanding payment due, and they were there not only to collect but issue a fine. The poor sod was down 300 Euros that day!!