As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in respect of the national roads programme element of Transport 21. The implementation of individual national road projects and the allocation of funding to those projects, including barrier-free tolling on the M50, is a matter for the National Roads Authority, NRA, in conjunction with the relevant local authorities, under sections 17 and 19 of the Roads Act 1993. In addition, the statutory power to levy tolls on national roads, to make toll by-laws and to enter into toll agreements with private investors in respect of national roads is vested in the NRA under Part V of the Roads Act 1993, as amended by the Planning and Development Act 2000 and the Roads Act 2007.
I am informed by the NRA that toll revenue from users of the M50 more than covers the introduction and ongoing operational costs of the M50 barrier-free tolling system and also contributes to the funding of the M50 upgrade. The NRA is satisfied that, overall, the new barrier-free tolling system is operating successfully. Take-up on the electronic registration system, which includes electronic tags and licence plate registrations, has exceeded expectations and traffic flow has improved significantly on the route, thus making a positive contribution towards the easing of congestion for all road users.
I understand from the NRA that, in common with similar such systems around the world, in the first few weeks of operation there were some initial problems with the M50 system. These included difficulties getting through to the customer service call centre and errors where the wrong person was billed for a toll. In recent weeks, however, the combination of the toll operator devoting more resources to the system and users becoming more familiar with the system has meant the call service centre has improved significantly and the number of billing errors has fallen substantially, with billing errors now comprising less than 0.2% of all traffic. The NRA has assured my officials that the authority and its toll operator, eFlow, will continue to work hard to put in place measures that will progressively improve the operation of the system.