Congestion charge discount

[puggit]

That's right...

I heard a radio ad this morning which was describing a new system where you get a discount if you buy a monthly or annual ticket to the congestion zone (40 days free per annual ticket).

So TFL are trying to get people to drive in every day of the year...

Doesn't this fly in the face of the point of the Kengestion charge in the first place - and openly points out that the point of the charge is not to reduce congestion, but to raise revenue....

[docjan]

The best part is everyone has totally forgotton that in the run up to congestion charging all the traffic lights timings were changed to be as congestion causing as possible and there were a crap load more road works all over the place which magically started to clear up when the congestion charge came into place... or go back to more acceptable prior levels.

Used to be big news but everyones forgetting about it.

[pdV6]

It beggars belief. The whole point is supposedly to discourage commuting by car. Then they talk about increasing peak rate fares on rail to hold back demand. Then you get a discount for being a regular car user!

It would be funny if written into a fictional sitcom but this is real life FFS!

[busa_rush]

Sounds like something from Tom Sharpe.

[parrot of doom]

I'm sure I read that overall traffic numbers were well down on levels 10 years before, even before the advent of the congestion charge.

[JonRB]

Congestion in London has always been self-regulating, as far as I (a non-Londoner) has understood.

eg.
"I'm not going that way; it'll be chocka - I'm not sitting in a traffic jam for bleedin' ages".

['King Deadly]

puggit said:

Doesn't this fly in the face of the point of the Kengestion charge in the first place - and openly points out that the point of the charge is not to reduce congestion, but to raise revenue....

Of course it's about the revenue.

It would be a simple modification of the existing system to issue electronic "passes" - at no charge - on a first come first served basis. You phone up before-hand to apply for a pass, and your number plate is logged. As soon as the daily limit is reached, no more passes are issued.

Then, if you're caught in the zone without having applied for a pass, you get a £1000 fine.

A totally fair system, that wouldn't discriminate against low-earners, like the current system does.

[smeggy]

docjan said:

The best part is everyone has totally forgotton that in the run up to congestion charging all the traffic lights timings were changed to be as congestion causing as possible and there were a crap load more road works all over the place which magically started to clear up when the congestion charge came into place... or go back to more acceptable prior levels. Used to be big news but everyones forgetting about it.

I haven't. I remember like it was yesterday cos the traffic lights in Portsmouth were totally fudged up on the same day it took effect in London, and it's never been rectified since. It's now a permanent cause of congestion.

see my post second from last