I thought this was suppose to be a democracy, I certainly haven't been asked!

They say they will make around 118 million pounds a year. Will I bet that half of that if not more will be lost in 'admin' charges and paying a massive army of civil service personnel to sit around in and office all day designing forms and having meetings about meetings!

If the money made isn't going to improve and more importantly clean up public transport then whats the point? Your paying your fees for nothing!

Kenneth is also completely right, the city centre will become a desert, a barron wasteland inhabitated by the odd Starbucks!

Also someone answer me this; if you never had 30,000 jobs in the first place then how is it possible to lose them?

james, Manchester,

Is this the end for annual road tax? If so, then it would be a good idea. You pay for what you get. With all the money going back into the coffers, the roads will be maintained. I support it whole heartedly.

dachaidh, rhu, scotland

Why charge the public more for doing the essential longer journeys which are not covered by reliable and cost effective tansport schemes. It is the shorter more avoidable journeys causing the snarl ups (school runs etc). Most people will be aware of the ease of travel and lack of congestion when the schools are closed. Road pricing will not solve congestion, it will just eventually price the poorer workers of the road and ultimatley out of work. Basically this will be the repacement for the lost revenue when we are all driving electric or more fuel efficient cars. It is aso interesting to note that some of the companies behind the road pricing technology are companies like Haliburton.

Malcolm, Durham, UK

"When people in Manchester were asked if they would support road charging if all the profit were invested in transport, 54 per cent said “yes”."

Spending money on public transport is really easy. I notice they didn't ask how many people would be in favour of congestion charging if spending the money on public transport didn't produce any improvements. Maybe they should ask that?

Katie, Cambridge,

To Ken Armitage - 'what will happen when shoppers move to outlying towns?' - Simple, the Ring of Steel you refer to will be widened to encompass arterial routes into those smaller towns too! Of course the Dept of Transport favour Manchester not Birmingham - Manchester's Councillors are willing to create fictional families, model's photogrpahs, do away with genuine consultation and invent fictional support to force the scheme through. If they had have sought genuine views, they would have been at risk of interviewing one or two of the 1.8M who signed the petition. So can we also assume that the figure of 30,000 job losses is also made up, falsified and fabricated? Given the lies, dishonesty and insult created through the publicity meant to prove the benefits, let us see where the 30,000 job losses actually come from. Projected building workers and jobs to be created for the overseeing admin staff for the scheme = 30,000. People not offered jobs if the proposal rejected? Err, 30,000?

NRC, Oldham, UK

This road charging will be unfair.
The people must have a say via a referendum, and to deny that would be a public insult.
It will be as unpopular as the poll tax and damage labour politicians in Manchester and get them kicked out of office.
A political suicide note!

ALLAN GRIFFITHS, MANCHESTER,

An interesting move by Manchester City council, it will be interesting to see the response of the major store owners to this road pricing scheme. Since the City will be surrounded by a 360 degree 'ring of steel' of road charging systems I wonder what will happen to the numerous large department stores as well as the many other clothing, jewellery and shoe shops in the Arndale Centre when the hundreds of thousands who live in the suburbs of Manchester and usually shop there, and especially at the weekend, decide not to travel in to Manchester and instead drive to the surrounding towns of Bolton, Bury, Rochdale, Oldham, Stockport, Middleton and Wigan and the huge shopping Trafford centre to do their shopping? And, if the department stores are obliged to reduce costs and overheads and thousands lose their jobs then what will happen?

Kenneth Armitage, Suffolk, England

It would seem to be a good time to move away from Manchester

Philip Walton , Wigan,