The squeeze on road users in London looks to tighten even further, if the latest reports are to be believed.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone has started detailed consultation on the introduction of a city-wide Low Emissions Zone, aimed at cutting emissions from the most polluting diesel engines, such as lorries, coaches, buses, and big vans.
The overall aim is the improvement of air quality, said to be among the lowest in Europe. The implementation could result in another road charge, to act as an incentive to operators to clean up their act. According to one report, it could go live as early as February 2008, and then be extended by 2010 to oilburning light goods vehicles and minibuses.
On top of this has come pressure for a Greater London road toll to pay for the stalled Crossrail scheme.
This £11.2 billion plan for an east-west rail link across the capital, from Maidenhead in the west into Essex and Kent in the east, has been in the planning stage for decades. It promises benefits such as lower traffic levels while making it easier to get across the city. Although a bill is going through Parliament to get authority to build the system, it's been held up since its inception in the 1980s largely by the huge cost of implementing it.
However, a transport economist has claimed that a road user charging scheme is required to net £3 billion annually to pay for both Crossrail and the capital's numerous other rail, road and tram infrastructure schemes that would otherwise remain “lines on maps”.
Imperial College professor of transport and infrastructure Stephen Glaister has produced a report, “Paying for a bigger, better quality London”, in which he warns that he sees no way to find the estimated £50 billon needed for new infrastructure in the capital other than road charging.
If you're still there, it's time to move out...
Links