More than half the people interviewed in a government survey have backed scrapping road and fuel tax in favour of a pay-as-you-drive system. The in-principle support for road-user charging was 57% among frequent drivers in Britain, rising to 64% among those who drive less often. Overall, net support, excluding the undecided, was just under 30%. However, the results of a series of recent surveys for the Department for Transport, show support for road pricing depends heavily on the phrasing and context of the question. When asked about specific elements of a charging system, support dropped to around 25% for ‘paying more to drive on busy roads than quiet roads,’ or ‘paying more at busy times than quite times’. Interestingly for local authorities and the transport secretary, reinvesting revenue in transport was more popular than devising a cost-neutral scheme. Offsetting the tax paid by motorists increased support to 44%, while a promise to spend the proceeds on roads and transport pushed this to 61%. A large majority (75%) see tackling congestion as an important priority for the Government, although more see it as a serious problem in towns and cities than on motorways. One-in-four experience congestion frequently, mostly on their daily commute. The scale of the challenge involved in building a road-charging consensus is underlined by the widespread perception that it would be unfair (50%), due to a lack of alternatives. One-quarter would not change their behaviour for that reason, against 10% who said they would. Most were sceptical that any system could accurately monitor and charge for road use. Only around four-in-10 considered it acceptable for the Government to hold data on their movements, falling to one-in-three if an independent organisation held the information. The questions will be repeated in further surveys in November.