Tamar Bridge boss says fee plan is 'reasonable'
Cameron Weldon/BBCThe boss of the company which runs the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferries has defended a proposal to increase fees for regular users.
The Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee wants to increase the monthly administration charge for the Tamar Tag, a prepaid electronic tag system, from 80p to £2 in a bid to cover rising costs.
In December councillors voted to approve the admin fee, but those plans were put on hold in January after public criticism, and a consultation is now taking place.
Philip Robinson, chief officer of Tamar Crossings said he was trying to "keep the options fair and reasonable and as transparent as possible".
Cameron Weldon/BBCThe public consultation got underway on 4 March and was due to run until 6 April.
Robinson said during the consultation he hoped to explain the three main options available to maintain a balanced budget.
One was to increase the monthly fee for tag holders, the second, to reduce the discount on the tag crossings or thirdly "go back to the government and ask for an increase in tolls" which he said he did not want to do.
"You never really stop paying for the bridge" he added.
He said the company had not taken a single penny from the government or the local authorities so "we have to find the income from somewhere".
'An absolute minimum'
Robinson said he was "looking at reducing the costs of operating both the ferry and the bridge" and said he hoped to "keep any increase to an absolute minimum"
He said "we are asked to keep a prudent reserve of £3m" and we "dipped well into that".
"We forecast that we go into deficit in a few years so we are starting the small increase now".
Robinson encouraged people to "engage and get involved" in the consultation.
He said he was taking responses "very seriously" and said drop in sessions were running on 17 March in Torpoint and 25 March in Saltash.
Previously, the Tamar Toll Action Group said the rise in fees to use the prepaid electronic tolling system was "not good for any resident or business reliant on crossing the Tamar to go about their daily lives".
