Thursday, June 28, 2007

'Road toll' will become a reality in Dubai on 1st July 2007. Should & Will we follow suite?

Dubai will go live on the 1st of July 2007 with 'SALIK', its road toll system; with the current traffic congstion problem and the increasing number of new cars on the roads of K.O.Bahrain, will it be long before Bahrain follows suit.






Quote from the official site


"HOW IT WORKS


Salik is a free flow tolling system without toll booths, barriers, or gates, allowing traffic to move freely through the tolling point at highway speeds.
There will be two tolling points: Al Garhoud Bridge and Sheikh Zayed Road near Mall of the Emirates.

Each time you pass through a Salik tolling point, the toll of AED4 will be deducted from your prepaid toll account using the latest in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.Your vehicle will be identified to the system through communication with the small, thin Salik sticker tag affixed to your windshield."

The Dubai RTA authorities are adamant that the scheme will go ahead as planned even though there has been speculation that it may be delayed because of the public reaction & uproar.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/06/24/10134636.html

What about Bahrain?

DO WE NEED SOMETHING LIKE THIS?

Will implementing such a system benefit us in the long run?

Will the tolls collected in such a scheme be reinvested to improve the road systems, were it to be implementing here?

Would we agree to pay the toll? I don't remember agreeing to the 1% it that still did not stop the government from implementing it!

Huh..., only time will tell.

Personally, i believe there should be a tolling system but only on healivy congested roads & bridges in K.O.Bahrain. It should be a smart system that records data like;

a) the number of times a car drives on the the road in a day,
b) Whether the car is registered under an individual residing in the area, or registered under a company located there,

...... and any other important information that ensures only the people abusing or misusing the roads to be charged.

Fees are not to be charged for normal use.

The fee should not exceed BD0.200 fils.

And the income obtained should only be used as a slush fund to further improve the road systems.

It should not be a personal Piggy Bank for the government at our expense.

What's you view in this matter?