Congestion charging goes nationwide?
We'll pay more to drive was the uncompromising message that came from a Government-commissioned report today.
It's part of the Government's long march towards getting the motorist to accept the notion of road charging in this, the most crowded and congested nation in Europe.
BA's erstwhile boss Rod Eddington was asked to examine options for relieving congestion and modernising the UK's creaking transport system. His recommendation was that we should pay to drive, with the charges depending on the type of road and time driven. And the benefits could amount to £28 billion for rail and bus users, with big projects like high-speed rail links being less important to the nation's well-being than making better use of existing resources, said the report.
'We can't do nothing'
Doing nothing isn't an option, finds the report, saying that: "If left unchecked, the rising cost of congestion will waste an extra £22 billion worth of time in England alone by 2025. By then 13 per cent of traffic will be subject to stop-start travel conditions. Commuter rail lines are forecast to see further increases in overcrowding, and intercity rail services will see many trains at or beyond seating capacity on the approaches to cities."
The report doesn't detail the how and when, but aims more to set out strategic options for future governments. And neither of the two main parties has ruled out road charging as an option for the future, so in some form or other, road pricing looks likely to be implemented in some form or other. Indeed the Government has already announced that it's planning to start a pilot scheme.
A matter of trust
However the problem is that, as one contributor to BBC Radio's Today programme this morning pointed out, surveys have found that most people don't trust the government. He pointed to the increase in London's congestion charge as an example of why this is the case. The charge was originally intended to be fixed in geography and in price for 10 years, yet has already gone up from £5 to £8 a day, and its range is to be extended. similarly, the M6 Toll road's price is to go up 30 per cent to £4 per car from January.
They also don't trust where the money would go -- into a general pot or back into improvements in the road network -- and they don't trust the Government not to increase the overall tax take, making motoring even more expensive.
Road safety campaign Safe Speed pointed out that, if the poorest drivers are priced off the road, immediately the roads are clearer and journeys are quicker. What happens then is that "wealthier people who were time-constrained from using the roads soon take advantage of the improved conditions and congestion is restored to previous levels", said the campaign.
Founder Paul Smith said: "Road pricing is a tax on the poor -- technically a regressive tax- - it may alter the average wealth of those stuck in traffic but will never ease congestion. It is also massively complex and expensive. It would burn massive amounts of money and deliver no significant benefit.
"Congestion in London has been self-regulated for 30 years with just about zero traffic growth. Ken Livingstone's congestion charge has not reduced journey times or reduced the number of vehicle movements, although you do have to read Transport for London's self-congratulatory reports very carefully to find out."
As an indication of what seems likely to happen in future, and especially as both a softening-up exercise and a lesson in the futility of opposition, the report does a good job.