Tuesday 5th January 2010

New Road Charges For London?

Mayor explores major road pricing expansion; driver lobby group cries 'foul' over consultation

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Road charging could be set to spread

London's mayor Boris Johnson is looking to push through far-reaching road charging proposals as part of his new Transport Strategy, and the capital's motorists only have until 12 January to get their views heard.

The road pricing proposals are buried in a 354-page public consultation document called the Mayor's Transport Strategy, which covers a multitude of sins including the Crossrail plans, strategies for cutting C02 and general improvements in public transport.

But a section of the document, buried on page 252 and entitled Wider application of road user charging to manage demand, reveals the extent of the Mayor's plans to introduce road pricing on a much wider scale.

"Given the success of the central London Congestion Charging scheme and the London LEZ in meeting their principal goals" says the document, "the Mayor may explore the application of road user charging in other circumstances where it can be appropriately tailored to local conditions and suitably implemented."

Among the proposals considered in the document are miniature C-Charge zones in metropolitan town centres, tolls for river crossings and potential charging schemes covering the whole of Greater London.

Boris knows it's a controversial subject, too. Although the document suggests that "Road user charging can be highly effective in altering travel patterns and can be tailored to support sustainable transport objectives" it admits that "it is clearly a contentious policy as the rejection of proposed schemes in Edinburgh and Manchester and the response to the Mayor's informal consultation on the Western Extension make clear."

The document has been available to the public since October, but many feel that it has been under-publicised. This includes the Association of British Drivers (ABD).

"The MTS is seeking approval for the extension of the discredited Congestion Charge to other areas, and even drops a hint about it becoming London-wide" says ABD London Media Spokesman, Brian Mooney. "The consultation leaflet has been anything but impartial, leading readers towards agreeing with a loaded statement supporting 'fair road pricing'.

"The leaflet makes no attempt at any objective discussion on what might or might not be fair. Nor does it remind the reader that drivers already pay five times over for their emissions and the paltry investment in roads. There is nothing fair about adding to this burden and pricing people off the road."

If you live or work in London you still have time to make your views heard, though. Send your views to him via e-mail, and/or complete an online form by 12 January to get yourself heard.

Download the Mayor's Transport Strategy in PDF format (23mb)

Click here to e-mail your views to TfL

Fill in the online form here

[14-7]

I find it quite disgusting that they introduced road charging in the first place let alone want to extend it.

[Beefmeister]

Unfortunately i have the feeling that nothing we say or do will have any impact on the outcome of this.

It will happen because London needs to scrape back the hundreds of millions it's spending on the Olympics.

Edited by Beefmeister on Tuesday 5th January 12:04

[Steve126]

A couple of years ago they had a report on the news about a study which showed that the number of cars entering the congestion charge zone had fallen since the congestion charge was introduced, but the congestion in the zone had got worse. This shows that the congestion charge doesn't work and that there is more to the level of congestion than simply how many cars are on the road.

If Boris introduces more charging, he doesn't deserve a second term, but who else is there to vote for?

[bakerjuk]

Is it me or was one of Boris's election pledges to abolish bendy buses, to review the use of congestion charging and to NOT extend the use of congestion charging?

I thought boris was one of the good guys, but clearly either I was wrong of the influencial people with money have got to him somehow.

[R66STU]

Everyone should buy a moped.. you can get a decent one for under £500, £15 for 12 months road tax..£100 for insurance, £5 for a tank of fuel that will last AGES.. no parking to pay, and stick two fingers up to the congestion charge.

[jsr]

the artice said:

"Road user charging can be highly effective in altering travel patterns and can be tailored to support sustainable transport objectives"

True, but lowering the cost of bus and tube fares would also influence people to use public transport.

Oh, but wait, what has Boris done raised bus and tube fares by above inflation!.

There is no intention here to reduce congestion. It is just another tax. We all need to fight this.

[E21_Ross]

excuse me? given the success of the congestion charging scheme? haha! well if it worked in the first place they wouldn't need this next outrageously stupid and immoral scheme.

words cannot express my anger.

[theJT]

See, now, it's st like this that means I won't drive into London any more. Is that doing the envionment any good? no idea, but it's sure as hell not doing London's economy any favours because I, and I'm sure thousands more like me, just plain won't go there.

[missing the VR6]

bakerjuk said:

Is it me or was one of Boris's election pledges to abolish bendy buses, to review the use of congestion charging and to NOT extend the use of congestion charging?

I thought boris was one of the good guys, but clearly either I was wrong of the influencial people with money have got to him somehow.

That's exactly what I was thinking!
I've only ever paid the C charge once and it has very little impact on me but what gets me is the constant bovine excreatia that comes out of our politicians!

[nadirv8]

I suspect his bonus rides on getting this extra tax in place

[Dibby]

Cue the hoards of wailers and bleaters complaining about this as if it's something new.

The public are powerless against things like this. 10% of us will send an email, maybe even one or 2 might go on a protest march but we know deep down inside we'll sit there and let them walk all over us. It's the British way - do nothing and complain.

There's only one solution - don't work in London. I did and I hated every minute of it, so I got out and left the feeling of being pumped for money at every opportunity, even 20p for a jimmy-riddle in Paddington station took the p**s!

Britains inner cities are only going one way and sending a strongly worded email from your nice comfy armchair won't solve a thing. Do you really think Boris cares? Londoners voted him in, now he's stiffing them over - SURPRISE!

[R66STU]

Dibby, well said..you are absolutly right.

[Dibby]

Cheers Stu, I can't be the only one who has seen this coming for the last 5 years at least ... but what have people done in the last 5 years? Sat back and let it happen is what they've done


Raaaargh, boooooo, down with {insert current politician in charge here}

Edited by Dibby on Tuesday 5th January 12:49

[soad]

Well said, Dibby - completely agree with you.

[dudley71]

R66STU said:

Everyone should buy a moped.. you can get a decent one for under £500, £15 for 12 months road tax..£100 for insurance, £5 for a tank of fuel that will last AGES.. no parking to pay, and stick two fingers up to the congestion charge.

You do have to pay for parking - it's £1.50/day or £150/year, brought in by Tory-run Westminster council and likely to be copied by Con-Lib Camden soon.

I wrote to Boris about it - as did many other bikers - but was told it's 'out of his control'.

[ianqv]

missing the VR6 said:

bakerjuk said:

Is it me or was one of Boris's election pledges to abolish bendy buses, to review the use of congestion charging and to NOT extend the use of congestion charging?

I thought boris was one of the good guys, but clearly either I was wrong of the influencial people with money have got to him somehow.

That's exactly what I was thinking!
I've only ever paid the C charge once and it has very little impact on me but what gets me is the constant bovine excreatia that comes out of our politicians!

I remember him saying he'd get rid of it during one of his 1 on 1 debates with Red Ken - it turns turns out they are both liars and not worth p1ssing on if they were on fire!!

I'll get off my now!!!

[Ceylon]

missing the VR6 said:

bakerjuk said:

Is it me or was one of Boris's election pledges to abolish bendy buses, to review the use of congestion charging and to NOT extend the use of congestion charging?

I thought boris was one of the good guys, but clearly either I was wrong of the influencial people with money have got to him somehow.

That's exactly what I was thinking!
I've only ever paid the C charge once and it has very little impact on me but what gets me is the constant bovine excreatia that comes out of our politicians!

Yes I remember the abolition pledge too. Well done Boris- you have just stuffed the Conservatives campaign as they will now be shown to not honour election promises. Oh God another term of Gordon "I can spend money on sweet FA faster than a chav lottery winner" Brown. We are all doomed...

[focus man]

Lets get one thing right....boris and the goverment are not interested in co2, public transport etc or anything to do with us other than raising as much money to A,pay for the huge debt they have incurred by wasting our taxes etc,B funding the 2012 olympic games!!!!..if they(boris,goverment)are so interested in reducing co2,traffic levels why o why do they not scrap the tolls at dartford,all it does is cause huge congestion....pollution and so on.....what about all the timed traffic lights at roundabouts that never alter so if you use them say at 11 oclock at night you have to sit there till they turn green wasting fuel etc,how about switching every other lampost off, that would surely cut co2.Again if car use was so important why dont we have cheap and reliable public transport??dont be silly the revenue would be reduced,what we have is smelly old cancerous causing diesel buses?taxis.
trains that apart from rush hour are empty!!! what about all the traffic lights in major towns....they can be improved massivly to improve flow,co2, etc,but no anything designed to improve things would be less revenue for boris & brown,the only way that we will stop this is to fight back,that means all of us,dont sit back and moan FIGHT BACK!!!ps have you noticed that we dont hear anything at the moment about global warming??....ha,ha cause we are in the middle of winter and its cold......come march it will be rammed down our throats again.....nuff said.

[BMWBen]

• cough*

If you actually read the document it comes across as nothing to worry about.
But hey, that's not exciting.

[Dibby]

Yep, if CO2 was the be all and end all they would make sure none of us could afford cars and put in legislation to make all new cars electric, they need to balance the revenue from taxes on fuel, make sure they sell enough to keep people in employment and not sacrifice too many votes. It's a fine balancing act they're playing

ianqv said:

it turns turns out they are both liars and not worth p1ssing on if they were on fire!!

and how is this a surprise?

The countryside must be the place to live now, no cop scameras hiding to catch you, hugely fun twisty lanes with no congestion, no C charge, free parking at the local woodlands, no billboards advertising at you every step of your journey ... and best of all, no Londoners. The ones that do make it to the countryside stand out like a sore thumb with their walking advertisements for Goretex and lycra and walking poles to get over a style so you can avoid them easily. But then you do have to put up with thicko yocal inbreds like me