Congestion Charging - Food for thought
Discussion
Channel 4 is becoming a foremost provider of new to me - their coverage is more extensive, insightful and well written than any other that is freely accessible..
Their article on Congestion Charging is particularly thought provoking.... don't get angry half way through.. read it to the end..
www.channel4.com/news/home/z/stories/20021009/congestion.html
Their article on Congestion Charging is particularly thought provoking.... don't get angry half way through.. read it to the end..
www.channel4.com/news/home/z/stories/20021009/congestion.html
well given that they're counting on 85% catch rate based on the fact that 'that's the rough percentage of motorists who are honest enough to pay'.. there's a good chance it will fail..
Once again, the honest man is fleeced whilst the scrote defies the charge with impunity..
The scrotes have my support in bringing the scheme to its knees..
get some mud on yer numberplates!!!
Maybe instead of windscreen washing 'service' at lights you could put a smear of thick mud/axle grease on everyone's number place at every set of lights just outside the zone - franchise it out .. CherChing 
Once again, the honest man is fleeced whilst the scrote defies the charge with impunity..
The scrotes have my support in bringing the scheme to its knees..
get some mud on yer numberplates!!! Maybe instead of windscreen washing 'service' at lights you could put a smear of thick mud/axle grease on everyone's number place at every set of lights just outside the zone - franchise it out .. CherChing Quote
David Begg: “Transport policy in Britain stands or falls by this. If it goes ahead, we will have it throughout the country in 10 years. If it fails, it will put it off the agenda everywhere.”
Righty oh then, this MUST FAIL.
I wasn't too bothered by this as I saw it a Londeners problem of which I don't really give a shit about, after all if you're daft enough to live there etc etc.
But now it seems it may strike me wherever I go. Ha. That'll be the day.
The only way you'll get poeple to give up their cars is simply by making public transport so damned good its actually better than cars. And so far all public transport I've seen falls way short. And don't give me any bull about who's going to pay for this improved public transport, lets not forget that of the millions (billions?) a year we pay in road tax very little actually gets spent on the tarmac.
As I'm fond of saying, there are two problems with public transport.
One is the transport (it never works)
the second is the public (you always get some smelly bum sitting beside you)
Andy
(think I'll get a motorbike)
In the most recent issue of Private Eye they do a few calculations:-
Each plate, apparently uses 100k of storage to record.
On average, 250,000 vehicles enter the charging zone currently, with many vehicles entering and leaving several times in a day.
Each plate's details must be checked against a register of paid registrations.
If the owner hasn't paid, their details have to be obtained from DVLC computers in Swansea.
It's estimated that 12Gb of data must be sorted and compared each day for this system to work.
Plates must be recognised in all weathers and in nose-to-tail traffic (plus alterations, mud etc. as discussed in the Ch4 article).
And who got the contract? Capita, whose record in delivering on-time, on-budget government contracts which work as intended is less than exemplory if the computer press is to be belived.
Each plate, apparently uses 100k of storage to record.
On average, 250,000 vehicles enter the charging zone currently, with many vehicles entering and leaving several times in a day.
Each plate's details must be checked against a register of paid registrations.
If the owner hasn't paid, their details have to be obtained from DVLC computers in Swansea.
It's estimated that 12Gb of data must be sorted and compared each day for this system to work.
Plates must be recognised in all weathers and in nose-to-tail traffic (plus alterations, mud etc. as discussed in the Ch4 article).
And who got the contract? Capita, whose record in delivering on-time, on-budget government contracts which work as intended is less than exemplory if the computer press is to be belived.
Indeed - This could be the single most infulential factor in the whole scheme collapsing round Newt Boy's lugholes..
Mark Benson said:And who got the contract? Capita
The problem is with civil service procurement methods.. a complete inability to scope and specify project requirements properly.. presumably because they think that £20k is a fair salary for business analysts and Prince2 project managers. Hence only nob-ends need apply.
Having to drive in, around and through London centre atleast 2 or 3 times a week it does not go un-noticed the amount of foreign plated cars, vans and motorbikes.
Would a trip across the water to pick up a cheap banger be on the cards?
I could still ensure it in the UK.
Road Tax? MOT?
Am I correct in thinking that you can drive on a foreign registered vehicle in the UK for a year before having to register it as a UK vehicle?
Or will I be breaking the law straightaway?
But then with the lack of Police on the roads (not a dig at the Police!), and only a dumb old camera to fool, who will catch me?
Would a trip across the water to pick up a cheap banger be on the cards?
I could still ensure it in the UK.
Road Tax? MOT?
Am I correct in thinking that you can drive on a foreign registered vehicle in the UK for a year before having to register it as a UK vehicle?
Or will I be breaking the law straightaway?
But then with the lack of Police on the roads (not a dig at the Police!), and only a dumb old camera to fool, who will catch me?
Absolutely, but all public offices require said bit of paper..
mondeoman said:PRINCE2 - pile of kak for people who can't make a decison, can't collate data and want their hands held every step of the way. IMHO of course
CarZee said: ........ Prince2 project managers. Hence only nob-ends need apply.
Equally this makes it much more likeley that they'll get the calibre of candidate you suggest, Mondy..
bunch of self perpetuating burocratic auto-anal-disappearance..
CarZee said: but come the next election he'll be back in New Labia, so people can still vent their frustration by voting against their local Labia candidate..
By voting for who? We've been here before but Fu-Manchoo Smith's bumchums appear just as pitiful.
Or is it a cunning deception by Blue Rinse HQ? Maybe once esconsed, someone decent from the Atilla Division will be moved centre stage to enforce the necessary reforms to restore our former Brunelesque pre-eminence?
Until then, we should continue our ludicrous pretence of care and massive aid for the plight of PeeWee, the one legged, bisexual, hermaphrodital tribal elder from the Amazonian basin.
Congestion charging will ultimately fail. The system has already been taken out of other cities where the aggravation of collating the data and chasing fines become far more expensive than the amount being paid by registers.
What irritates me is that a supplier I am a captive audience and will end up paying. All suppliers in the city, sandwich deliveries all the way to the important stuff like beer will be the people that supply these pricks with their bread and butter money.
He's already pi55ed about with the traffic lights
Piccadilly - 12 sec on Green - 150 secs on Red !
Kings Road filter - 4 secs on Green - 40 secs on Red !
and this is becoming general knowledge.
The whole city is buggered at the moment with Vauxhall Croos and Shoreditch being dug up at the same time. Londoners are fed up with him IMHO and he will get booted out at the next election. I honestly believe they arranged the roadworks to bugger the system in time along with the traffic lights to create more chaos in readiness to switch it back for the implementation of the charging.
I know for certain that Islington council have done work to re schedule their lights and have identified the new 'rat runs' around the zone to bugger about with them aswell to try and force drivers into the charge zone.
I do not know for certain about the roadwork but I doubt its a coincidence.
I saw a very interesting clip on telly the other day when Red Ken was on a pavement in London trying to hand out leaflets to the masses. One guy just threw it back in his face quoting "congestion chargin" ....... apparently he was far from the only one to do it.
What irritates me is that a supplier I am a captive audience and will end up paying. All suppliers in the city, sandwich deliveries all the way to the important stuff like beer will be the people that supply these pricks with their bread and butter money.
He's already pi55ed about with the traffic lights
Piccadilly - 12 sec on Green - 150 secs on Red !
Kings Road filter - 4 secs on Green - 40 secs on Red !
and this is becoming general knowledge.
The whole city is buggered at the moment with Vauxhall Croos and Shoreditch being dug up at the same time. Londoners are fed up with him IMHO and he will get booted out at the next election. I honestly believe they arranged the roadworks to bugger the system in time along with the traffic lights to create more chaos in readiness to switch it back for the implementation of the charging.
I know for certain that Islington council have done work to re schedule their lights and have identified the new 'rat runs' around the zone to bugger about with them aswell to try and force drivers into the charge zone.
I do not know for certain about the roadwork but I doubt its a coincidence.
I saw a very interesting clip on telly the other day when Red Ken was on a pavement in London trying to hand out leaflets to the masses. One guy just threw it back in his face quoting "congestion chargin" ....... apparently he was far from the only one to do it.
johno said: I saw a very interesting clip on telly the other day when Red Ken was on a pavement in London trying to hand out leaflets to the masses. One guy just threw it back in his face quoting "congestion chargin" ....... apparently he was far from the only one to do it.
Have the silent majority finally had enuff of this blatant communistic social engineering - I surely hope so. I know that there will be some on here who will disagree with this - but I sincerley hope that a concerted campaign against these cameras is undertaken. Make it unworkable - it needs to fail!
We need an independant survey of traffic light timings now and before and during the onset of this additional driving tax, then when they try and claim its a success the proof will be there of their tinkering. Someone somewhere must know how to access this data/hack into the traffic systems, something - its only technology after all.
Why is it that a country which is generally conservative in its thinking (small c, not necessarily tory) has put up with this tax and spend, big brother knows best shite?
you know, I'm not sure this is actually true..
mondeoman said: Why is it that a country which is generally conservative in its thinking (small c, not necessarily tory)
I think the sad truth is that in generations born post austerity (1960+), conservatism is not a majority trait...
Conservatives are dying off and the 'liberal' younger generations are taking over. Unfortunately, they are also mostly inadequately educated as to the potential danger of the socio-economic changes which their preference for 'fluffy bunny think of the children' policies are likely to bring about.
I don't know what the root cause is, but I suspect that the experience of WW2 and the austerity years bred conservatism. Since then with the sexual and cultural revolutions of the 60s and 70s, liberalism took over.
Unfortunately, while liberalism as it once stood was no bad thing, what was then defined as liberalism has more recently been marginalised as 'libertarianism' and the definition of liberalism today is effectively that of the new socialism. Ergo a fundamental shift to the left in our society.
>> Edited by CarZee on Thursday 24th October 10:46
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