Subject: Re: India has splurged billions on metro trains. But where are the commuters?

In message <10s8nas$1peq2$1@dont-email.me>, at 20:39:56 on Tue, 21 Apr
2026, Sam Wilson <ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> remarked:

I?ve not been that way for a while, but the M6 Toll used to be a ghost road >compared to the free alternative. (There may be geographical reasons for >that.)

The last time I might have used the M6 Toll, my decision not to was
mainly because of the awkward routing from the western end to the M54.

The stretch of M6 from Great Barr to the M54 (and back) was stop start, though; well outside normal rush hours.
--
Roland Perry

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Subject: Re: India has splurged billions on metro trains. But where are the commuters?

Roland Perry <roland@perry.uk> wrote:

In message <10s8nas$1peq2$1@dont-email.me>, at 20:39:56 on Tue, 21 Apr
2026, Sam Wilson <ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> remarked:

I?ve not been that way for a while, but the M6 Toll used to be a ghost road >> compared to the free alternative. (There may be geographical reasons for
that.)

The last time I might have used the M6 Toll, my decision not to was
mainly because of the awkward routing from the western end to the M54.

The stretch of M6 from Great Barr to the M54 (and back) was stop start, though; well outside normal rush hours.

That?s pretty much my experience as well. We have friends in the W Brom
area and the section from the M6 Toll junction to Wednesbury is always unpleasant. I don?t enjoy going further south.

Sam

--
The entity formerly known as Sam.Wilson@ed.ac.uk
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Subject: Re: India has splurged billions on metro trains. But where are the commuters?

Sam Wilson <ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> wrote:

I?ve not been that way for a while, but the M6 Toll used to be a ghost road compared to the free alternative. (There may be geographical reasons for that.)

Sam

Passed that way this afternoon Southbound. The M6 Toll doesn?t offer any benefit for the fairly large number of vehicles who like us will be
continuing their journeys down the M5 for the Southwest or the Wiltshire /Dorset Hampshire border areas reached by the A419 and onwards after the M4 crossing whereas the ordinary M6 leads on to the M5 naturally. It was reasonably free flowing about 17.30 which surprised us though Northbound
was at a standstill for miles due to crashes.

GH


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Subject: Re: India has splurged billions on metro trains. But where are the commuters?

Marland <gemehabal@btinternet.co.uk> wrote:

Sam Wilson <ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> wrote:

I?ve not been that way for a while, but the M6 Toll used to be a ghost road >> compared to the free alternative. (There may be geographical reasons for
that.)

Sam

Passed that way this afternoon Southbound. The M6 Toll doesn?t offer any benefit for the fairly large number of vehicles who like us will be continuing their journeys down the M5 for the Southwest or the Wiltshire /Dorset Hampshire border areas reached by the A419 and onwards after the M4 crossing whereas the ordinary M6 leads on to the M5 naturally. It was reasonably free flowing about 17.30 which surprised us though Northbound
was at a standstill for miles due to crashes.

That?s the sort of geographical reason I was thinking of - the M6 serves
large centres of population in the Black Country and northern Birmingham,
as well as onward routes to the south west; the M6 Toll bypasses them completely.

Sam


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Subject: Re: India has splurged billions on metro trains. But where are the commuters?

In message <10sapu4$2bqdu$1@dont-email.me>, at 15:36:36 on Wed, 22 Apr
2026, Sam Wilson <ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> remarked:

Roland Perry <roland@perry.uk> wrote:

In message <10s8nas$1peq2$1@dont-email.me>, at 20:39:56 on Tue, 21 Apr
2026, Sam Wilson <ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> remarked:

I?ve not been that way for a while, but the M6 Toll used to be a
ghost road compared to the free alternative. (There may be >>>geographical reasons for that.)

The last time I might have used the M6 Toll, my decision not to was
mainly because of the awkward routing from the western end to the M54.

The stretch of M6 from Great Barr to the M54 (and back) was stop start,
though; well outside normal rush hours.

That?s pretty much my experience as well. We have friends in the W Brom
area and the section from the M6 Toll junction to Wednesbury is always >unpleasant. I don?t enjoy going further south.

The problem is that bit of M6 has the traffic for both the M6 eastbound
via Spaghetti Junction, *and* the M5 down to Bristol. Ought to be
six-lanes each way, perhaps???
--
Roland Perry

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* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Subject: Re: India has splurged billions on metro trains. But where are the commuters?

In message <10sbih7$2k16t$1@dont-email.me>, at 22:36:23 on Wed, 22 Apr
2026, Sam Wilson <ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> remarked:

Marland <gemehabal@btinternet.co.uk> wrote:

Sam Wilson <ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> wrote:

I?ve not been that way for a while, but the M6 Toll used to be a
ghost road compared to the free alternative. (There may be >>>geographical reasons for that.)

Sam

Passed that way this afternoon Southbound. The M6 Toll doesn?t offer any
benefit for the fairly large number of vehicles who like us will be
continuing their journeys down the M5 for the Southwest or the Wiltshire >> /Dorset Hampshire border areas reached by the A419 and onwards after the M4 >> crossing whereas the ordinary M6 leads on to the M5 naturally. It was
reasonably free flowing about 17.30 which surprised us though Northbound
was at a standstill for miles due to crashes.

That?s the sort of geographical reason I was thinking of - the M6 serves >large centres of population in the Black Country and northern Birmingham,
as well as onward routes to the south west; the M6 Toll bypasses them >completely.

I think the business plan for M6 Toll was mainly HGVs (with Tachos, and
time constraints) to get from Coventry-and-further-east to the Potteries-and-further-north, avoiding the congestion in the vicinity of Spaghetti Junction.

As a car driver I did use it that way once, on a trip from
Cambridgeshire to Chester, although disappointed to discover
the toll booths didn't accept Apple|Google Pay, something they
have more recently fixed.

ObGoatherder: I see in another place that a new Theme Park has opened
near Wisbech, and people are complaining it's cashless. Whereas the good Fenland Folk apparently still rely quite heavily on cash (for various
reasons) and don't routinely carry contactless CC's.

I have a wearable, which despite their OTT advertising puff doesn't
piggyback "all your cards", only Mastercard - not Visa or Amex or even
things like Twirly Cards and Oyster. One of the cards I've held the
longest, wrote to me yesterday saying they are bailing out from
Mastercard and going Visa. "Sorry for the incontinence(sp)" so not only
do users have to manually re-instate any continuous payment authorities,
it would immediately be incompatible with my wearable.

In other news, Virgin Money (Mastercard) are merging with Nationwide
(Visa cards) and I wonder if they'll be re-issuing cards later this
year.

I now return you to our normal programming, with a reminder that once
upon a time BR only took Amex, but when GNER went broke one of the first
signs was them withdrawing Amex as a payment method.
--
Roland Perry

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Subject: Re: India has splurged billions on metro trains. But where are the commuters?

On 23/04/2026 05:06, Roland Perry wrote:

In message <10sapu4$2bqdu$1@dont-email.me>, at 15:36:36 on Wed, 22 Apr
2026, Sam Wilson <ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> remarked:

Roland Perry <roland@perry.uk> wrote:

In message <10s8nas$1peq2$1@dont-email.me>, at 20:39:56 on Tue, 21 Apr
2026, Sam Wilson <ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> remarked:

I?ve not been that way for a while, but the M6 Toll used to be a
ghost roadÿ compared to the free alternative.ÿ (There may be
geographical reasons forÿ that.)

The last time I might have used the M6 Toll, my decision not to was
mainly because of the awkward routing from the western end to the M54.

The stretch of M6 from Great Barr to the M54 (and back) was stop start,
though; well outside normal rush hours.

That?s pretty much my experience as well.ÿ We have friends in the W Brom
area and the section from the M6 Toll junction to Wednesbury is always
unpleasant.ÿ I don?t enjoy going further south.

The problem is that bit of M6 has the traffic for both the M6 eastbound
via Spaghetti Junction, *and* the M5 down to Bristol. Ought to be
six-lanes each way, perhaps???

Four, certainly. But it's already tightly packed into an urban area
with very little scope for widening, and the toll operators may have
been promised that the alternative wouldn't be improved.

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Subject: Re: India has splurged billions on metro trains. But where are the commuters?

On 22/04/2026 23:36, Sam Wilson wrote:

Marland <gemehabal@btinternet.co.uk> wrote:

Sam Wilson <ukr@dummy.wislons.fastmail.co.uk> wrote:

I?ve not been that way for a while, but the M6 Toll used to be a ghost road >>> compared to the free alternative. (There may be geographical reasons for >>> that.)

Passed that way this afternoon Southbound. The M6 Toll doesn?t offer any
benefit for the fairly large number of vehicles who like us will be
continuing their journeys down the M5 for the Southwest or the Wiltshire >> /Dorset Hampshire border areas reached by the A419 and onwards after the M4 >> crossing whereas the ordinary M6 leads on to the M5 naturally. It was
reasonably free flowing about 17.30 which surprised us though Northbound
was at a standstill for miles due to crashes.

That?s the sort of geographical reason I was thinking of - the M6 serves large centres of population in the Black Country and northern Birmingham,
as well as onward routes to the south west; the M6 Toll bypasses them completely.

That's the whole point of it - a route between the south east and the north west avoiding the West Midlands, thus freeing up the M6 for other traffic. I used to use it when we lived near the M40 about 15 years ago, even though we still had to battle through the worst bits of the M42. The services were
useful too, being newer and usually quieter than the alternatives. A better link with the M54 would help - we used to go via Stourbridge and Bridgnorth from the M42 instead. At least the M6 is now mostly 4 lanes between the M54
and the M5, which helps a bit.

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