Horse 598 - A Roll is a Roll and a Toll is a Toll

This is a picture of possibly one of the most beautiful sights in the world. No it isn't the river or even the bridge in the background, but that yellow sign in front advising people that the toll booths are gone. Look how happy all of those people are. Now they can scoot along merrily at 50mph without having to fumble for change and without paying extra to use something which they've already paid for.

Tolls are being scrapped on the Erskine Bridge but will remain on the Tay and Forth bridges in Scotland, I read on the BBC. The Erskine Bridge toll will be scrapped on 31 July. The Ministry of Transport further rejected plans to increase the fee on the Forth Road Bridge from £1 to £4 at peak times and they've also agreed to start planning for a replacement Forth crossing at South Queensferry.

I think that this is a brilliant idea myself. Personally I really really hate paying tolls on turnpikes and motorways; I personally find the whole concept repugnant and horrible and an affront to the good people who use the roads. The various Transport Authorities are put in place around the world to make life easier. In particular in Sydney, this idea went out the window a long time ago, and new private motorways are being built using the public purse and at great expense to the taxpayer. In the midst of this, the private operators get free licence to rape the wallets of the poor motorist, who already forks over 70% of the cost of petrol in other taxes.

This is the list of charges for using the motorways in Sydney:

M1 Eastern Distributor - $4.50 - Northbound
M1 Cross City Tunnel - $3.56 - both directions
M2 Harbour Tunnel - $3.30 - Southbound
M2 Harbour Bridge - $3.30 - Southbound
M2 $3.80 - both directions
M2 Gore Hill Tunnel - $2.00 - both directions (opens Nov 2006)
M4 $2.20 - both directions
M5 $3.30 - both directions
M7 $0.3033 per kilometer capped at $6.07

This is just for cars mind you, for trucks it's usually doubled.

This is only within the confines of Sydney. As soon as you leave Sydney the roads cease to be of Motorway quality. Worse is that all of these motorways are owned by different companies, so the money doesn't even go to NSW State Revenue but private coffers, who still have no real interest in the well-being of taxpayers. Then the State Government has the audacity to steadily increase the road tax despite not building any new roads of its own.

What I want to know is, why should I be forced to pay a toll to use a road when I'm already paying a road tax in the first place? If it isn't being spent on roads (well obviously its not, since all new motorways are private) then what the heck are my road taxes for?