News / Severn tolls
Concern scrapping of Severn Tolls will fuel Bristol’s congestion problems
Scrapping the Severn Bridge tolls will create 16,000 more car journeys in Bristol every day, it has been revealed.
In June, the Department for Transport (DfT) insisted that modelling had been carried out to find how many more trips would be made into the West’s biggest city once the one-way toll had been abolished – but refused to reveal numbers.
Now a Freedom of Information request has revealed that 16,000 more journeys would be made in the city each day by 2022 – 8,000 in and 8,000 out – equating to nearly six million extra journeys every year.
is needed now More than ever
The DfT said it was looking at how to invest in the South West’s roads to meet the new demand.
Currently more than a million trips are made on the two bridges each month and those travelling to Bristol spend around £1,200 of their yearly salary on their commute.
People currently using public transport for the journey, or put off from looking for work in Bristol because of the tolls, will have a new incentive to drive into the city.
One business group has already warned that removing the tolls at the end of the year could cause “gridlock”, particularly in the north of the city.
There are fears that scrapping the tolls could create further gridlock in the already-congested city.
Getting rid of the tolls, which have been called a “tax on getting into Wales”, has been lauded as a big step for the South Wales economy, with the Welsh Government estimating in 2012 that it could bring £100m a year into the region.
Sion Barry, business editor for Wales Online and Welsh national newspaper the Western Mail, said: “While the business community and wider public are welcoming the abolition of tolls, there are also concerns that it could see traffic on the M4 increase by around 20 per cent, which will only exacerbate current traffic delay issues.
“There is already evidence that scrapping of tolls is helping to fuel house price rises in Newport, with buyers from the south west of England moving into the marketplace and opting to commute over the bridges to work in places like Bristol.”
The Government vowed to scrap fees on the Severn bridges last year, spelling an end to a toll that has been in force since the first bridge opened near Chepstow in 1966.
The Severn Bridge under construction.
The second bridge on the M4 was opened to traffic in 1996, and by 2017 Severn River Crossing PLC, was making between £8m and £10m a month from the tolls.
The bridges returned to public ownership in January this year and VAT on the price was abolished immediately, bringing the cost down to £5.60 for cars, £11.20 for vans and £16.70 for for buses and lorries.
A DfT spokesman said: “The removal of the tolls will make a huge difference to those who use the Severn crossings regularly and will mean more people will be able to afford to use the crossings in both directions to seek job and business opportunities.
“We know that demand on roads around the crossings will continue to grow, which is why we are looking at the investment needs of the South West as part of the next round of the Roads Investment Strategy, and as part of our commitment to improving journeys across the UK.”
Although it is highly unlikely that the decision to remove the tolls will be revoked, there have been calls for more to be done to deal with the traffic once getting into Wales becomes free.
A spokesman for the West of England Combined Authority, which oversees transport in the region, said: “We are in discussions with the Welsh Government, Highways England, the Department for Transport, Wales Office, Network Rail and Great Western Railway about how best to work together to address the issues.”
Jack Pitts is a local democracy reporter for Bristol.
Read more: Severn tolls to be abolished
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