OFFICIALS in charge of the Humber Bridge are to apply to the Department of Transport asking permission to scrap the toll charge for motorcycles.
Motorcyclists currently pay £1.20 for a one-way journey across the bridge, with car drivers paying £2.70. However, recent plans to scrap the bike charge also porposes a single car crossing could increase to £3.
The move has been prompted by an electronic tagging system, set to be introduced for cars, counts the number of times a vehicle crosses the bridge and then bills the owner on a monthly basis.
It's something Bridgemaster Peter Hill says will be difficult to implement on motorcycles: "My feeling is that it would be a significant cost and difficulty to toll motorcycles under the new system. They would have to develop an electronic tag which was weatherproof in order to receive quite a low toll income, which could be self-defeating."
A motorcyclist crossing the bridge twice a day would save more than £560 a year.
The construction, opened in 1981, is the largest bridge of its kind in the UK and is used by more than five million motorists a year.
