Red Ken's £5 London Daily Charge Thingy.
Discussion
How do you London people go shopping for food? I lived near Chancery Lane for 6 months and never worked it out. The nearest mini Tesco thing at the time was at least 2 tubes stops away.
In the car, drive, park (theoretically), get shopping drive back.
In the tube - you're having a laugh aren't you. Have you tried to manipulate 3 shoppings bags though one of the underground ticket machines.
In the bus, I wanted to go from Holbourn to Tower Bridge. After several hours stuck in traffic, I ended up in deepest East London as it followed an entirely different route on a Sunday. 
Nice idea and I agree in principle but I don't think it will work.
Ian A
Griff 500
Nice idea and I agree in principle but I don't think it will work.
Ian A
Griff 500Ian I agree about the shopping thing.
Not many people do their weekly shop on a weekday at 8am though, so I dont think this is too much of a problem...
I would say though that my interpretation of this idea is to stop people driving into the central zone during weekday rush hours when they don't _have_ to. ie If you live in Richmond and work in the city then don't drive, get the train fer chrissakes. Again if you live kensington don't drive the kids to school in a 4x4, make them get the sodding bus etc etc etc etc.
I haven't read the detail on the system so I'm not sure if this is what it will actually achieve, though I am sure this should be the intention behind the idea...
Had this e-mail from VBH
Hello Poppets
So then, the motorist is in for another hammering if Ken Livingstone, London's Mayor, gets his way. His proposal for all vehicles to pay £5 to enter the capital is just ludicrous. Utterly silly, in my opinion.
If you drive in every day, then you'll end up spending £25 a week - or £100 a month, or £1,200 a year. Just for the privilege of going to work. Five pounds is a lot of money it's one seventh of an average tank of fuel. And it won't just be London-bound drivers who could be forced to cough up, because this hare-brained scheme may well hit a host of other cities, too.
It is claimed - by the non-driving Mr Livingstone - that traffic will be reduced, and the extra estimated £200 million generated will be ploughed into improving transport. But in the meantime, the £5 charge could well force thousands of people out of their cars and into trains and tubes.
Now, I have been on trains and tubes recently, and they are absolutely jam-packed at rush hour as it is. There is no magic wand that can be waved to improve the quality and capacity of these two services overnight, so that situation would only get worse.
Then there's all the fuss and nonsense that will come hand-in-hand with the actual payments of the charge, not to mention the extra congestion I'm certain will be created when people have to go through some sort of 'payment' mechanism.
I think the whole scheme is pointless. It's just another way of getting money from the motorist with no real benefit for them - OK, it MIGHT reduce traffic a little in the long term, but I doubt very much that the price we'll pay will out-weigh the plusses.
Vicki xxx
Has anyone else recieved these e-mails and is it the real VBH?
Edited by jamesc on Friday 13th July 23:29
Can't wait for Ken Clark to get into office. He loves cars and TVRs, he will stop this stupid scheme and close down Red Ken's office! Thanks to Ken Clark I save £800 a year on road tax on my old cars. I hope he will un-freeze the age limit so others can benefit including all those with "M" series TVRs and Ginetta G15s built after 1973.
which I somehow doubt she writes.... (ooh, meeeow...)
good points by the person who did write it, except the first one. Im sorry...this ISNT an 'arent the motorists hard done by again' issue. The concept is to reduce traffic and its a good one.
Sounds, sadly enough, like it would be very difficult to actually do, technically and logistically as well as politically (though I do think the problems with tolls / toll gates could be sorted out)
The ide is as the honourable Nightmare suggests the right one, logistically it is difficult.
I think its important that those of us who enjoy our cars don't have a knee jerk reaction to this issue and oppose it as 'anti car'. Its not, its a way of getting people who don't appreciate diving as a skill/art/passion onto alternative means of transport. Resulting in clearer safer roads for us to use for our enjoyment.
hmmm dreaming again....
Sorry folks, but until the transport system is improved this idea is a waste of time.
I used to drive into Central London every day, It cost me roughly the same in Petrol/parking as the tube, and I never had to stand/have my face in some t0ssers arm pit/sit in a tunell for 30 mins whilst the tube broke down. I have a comfy seat, music and maybe aircon.
I moved miles out of town now, and I have to get the train and then tube. The trains are a total joke, it costs me 2.5K every year. I have to stand for my entire journey (I live 30-45 mins away from the city on the train) they are always late/hot/going wrong/crowded/disgusting and then I have to cram myself onto what is probably the worst tube in London, the Jubilee line to Canary Wharf, Its always crowded/breaking down and Canary Wharf has got an unbelievable amount of new buildings coming up. Its going to be vitually impossible to get here soon.
Forcing car drivers onto public transport is never going to work unless they invest in the system first!
you can't even get to a Tube/train station in Greater London without driving because the bus services are terrible, and when you get to the station by car, there are no car parks, or they charge you £10+ to park for the day. Its a disgrace.
I don't agree with driving into London for the sake of it, especially with one driver per car, but the system is so bad. Why should we have to put up with it, Where does all my F*cking tax go?
I know you can say, if you dont like it, work elsewhere. But London is where the money is, I would love to have a less stressful job, near where I live, but it don't pay the mortgage or fund my stupid car hobby.
gasp for breath
I even had to buy a scooter just so I could get to the Train station and park for free, otherwise I would have been ripped of there also, or wait 40 mins between buses.
<rant off>
<rant off> I must say I also work at canary wharf and use the jubilee line, luckily though I go towards Stratford so can normally get a seat, the problem is parking costs a fair bit then the things are always going wrong. When they have problems I drive in and have to pay even more to park my car in a mud pit/building site then they then want to charge an extra £5 a day on top of that.
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