Monday 8th February 2010

London's Motorists Face Financial Squeeze

Green Group's report aims to raise £75m from city drivers

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'Spot the motorist...'

London's motorists could face a dismally expensive year if the London Assembly Green Group's suggested changes to Boris Johnson's 2010/2011 budget win approval.

Currently, BoJo is looking to raise £75 million in the capital by raising bus fares by 12.7 per cent. Instead, the yoghurt-eaters of the Green Group suggest that the increase could be raised "mostly from motorists".

The report proposes that the London Assembly should reinstate plans to put a £25 emission charge on what it calls 'gas guzzlers' (which, we assume, means any car putting out more than a certain amount of CO2) in the c-charge zone. In addition, the report suggests that the western extension of the congestion charge zone should remain.

It also slams Boris's plans to drop bendy buses, describing them as a "vanity project".

The Green Group also calls for an extra £2.8 million for the London Safety Camera Partnership, and £3 million for a blanket 20mph limit for two London boroughs. It also wants to increase spending on what it calls 'low-carbon zones' to the tune of £4 million. Talk about wringing the motorist dry...

If you're prepared to get quite angry, read the London Assembly Green Group's full report here. But please remember for the sake of your blood pressure on a Monday - this is only a report. It's not law yet...

^{Photo: David Castor}

[SDxsi]

Working early aren't you riggers? Back on topic, these sort of schemes are yet more stupid ways to make money out of the scam that is global warming and emissions crap by targeting innocent motorists

[mybrainhurts]

Ahaaa...The thread with no title

How many people will get in..? Place your bets, gentlemen...

[Pionir]

There's no need for a blanket 20mph speed limit because everyone seems to drive at 20mph everywhere anyway and the average is lower still because of all the waiting for traffic lights.

Also when Boris says he's looking to raise fares by up to 12% he doesn't mention bus passes have already gone up 20% from from £53 to £63 this month.

I guess he needs to pay for his Boris Island somehow (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jan/23/boris-johnson-thames-airport).

[markcoznottz]

The Green Group also calls for an extra £2.8 million for the London Safety Camera Partnership,

Whos going to fund this s**t?. We should be cutting this non essential rubbish, there is no more money in the pot, anyway lets fix all the potholes first.

[hixxj]

Bring forward congestion charge increase
- 10,000,000
Increase standard congestion charge to £11/£12
- 15,000,000
Introduce emissions based congestion charge
- 40,000,000
Cancel abolition of Western Extension Congestion Charge (extra income)
- 20,000,000

Does this strike anyone else as double counting?
so -we introduce emissions based congestion charge to raise £40m, but we only get £25m from increaing the congestion charge

In plain english - raise the congestion charge by enoughto rake in a further £65m

What? The? F?

[infradig]

markcoznottz said:

The Green Group also calls for an extra £2.8 million for the London Safety Camera Partnership,

Whos going to fund this s**t?. We should be cutting this non essential rubbish, there is no more money in the pot, anyway lets fix all the potholes first.

I think that what you think of as potholes are in fact 'traffic calming measures' and will be left to grow thus making every London driver buy a 'gas guzzling 4x4'.
A win win situation as far as Boris is concerned as he can wring his hands and bluster that its all beyond his control but at least we've got a choice and he's not (quite)going back on his election promises.

[hooperpride]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

ha ha I'm in too, first time I realised how to as well

[ctallchris]

Best way to get 4x4's off the street would be to tax mercilessly by vehicle weight. at the end of the day an electric / hybrid land rover is still unneccessary and antisocial. It doesn't matter how green it is having a v10 doesn't stop it bloking peoples view or rolling over and killing all of its occupants after killing the occupanst of a car who might have survived had it been a smaller car.

[bob1179]

Another load of cobblers. Luckliy I don't live in London so it doesn't really affect me, however, if this goes through, how long until these ridiculous schemes reach other parts of the UK?

I've also just posted so I could be part of the 'unclickable thread'.

[Frimley111R]

Load of bullst this! These groups would have us cycling everywhere at 5mph on bikes made of wool that we knitted ourselves.

[Funk]

They seem to think that the motorists' pockets are bottomless. It also irks me that the lentilists are happy to see 'motorists' pay but the moment it's suggested that they themselves are taxed more, they kick off.

[LukeBird]

Ok ignoring the latter part of the article, what the hell does Boris need £75 million for?!
Is this money already spent or is it planned spending that he needs to raise?

[Typhon]

Wasnt Boris elected because he agreed to scrap Livingstones high congestion tax plans?

[swamp]

Typhon said:

Wasnt Boris elected because he agreed to scrap Livingstones high congestion tax plans?

In part, yes. He didn't implement the £25 CC, but he delayed scrapping the western extension.

[Marwood79]

Still ignoring the fact that every other vehicle in London is a black cab with a 50 year old engine design pushing God knows what heavy particulate matter out of its pipe - no stop-start tech etc.
If the politicians seriously wanted to reduce emissions surely this would be the logical starting point? So why don't they cut the crap and just STEAL whatever money they need - rather than all these lame attempts at justifying the same thing?

[Denorth]

ctallchris said:

Best way to get 4x4's off the street would be to tax mercilessly by vehicle weight. at the end of the day an electric / hybrid land rover is still unneccessary and antisocial. It doesn't matter how green it is having a v10 doesn't stop it bloking peoples view or rolling over and killing all of its occupants after killing the occupanst of a car who might have survived had it been a smaller car.

does it mean - fat people even in small cars will pay more? I got better idea: why not to charge drivers in accordance with their BWI as well?
Or: only a driver in the car - pay more. car full of people - pay less.

Instead of finding real way out of problems those guys just want to charge us. It is a guranteed income of course. How can we avoid such payments if they are mandatory?
If feel sympathy to those living in London and having to cope with all those 'groups' 'ideas' 'charges/robbery'

Should we do a different choice in this elections?

[A Scotsman]

It is truly ironic that London - home of financial institutions and Govt - should be proposing ideas like these.

Recent reports have shown that a) the UK invests considerably less in energy R&D than all of our main competitors and b) it can only manage to be 20th out of 27 countries compared for their sales of clean tech products and services. Just to shame the City of London even more it was announced last week that Norway is now top of the venture capital investment league in clean tech.

[MrTappets]

I think the costs should be incurred at the pump, but reduced everywhere else - if you're using lots of fuel it's a good cross-section measure of your car's weight, efficiency and your driving style.

[swamp]

Marwood79 said:

Still ignoring the fact that every other vehicle in London is a black cab with a 50 year old engine design pushing God knows what heavy particulate matter out of its pipe - no stop-start tech etc.
If the politicians seriously wanted to reduce emissions surely this would be the logical starting point? So why don't they cut the crap and just STEAL whatever money they need - rather than all these lame attempts at justifying the same thing?

Many black cabs would be paying the £25 "gas guzzler charge", if they weren't exempt.

I believe Boris scrapped the 6 monthly taxi emissions check, so now you can often spot a cab spouting black smoke. Ask any cyclist if they'd prefer to be behind such a toxic plume or a modern petrol V8....

[doesnt post much]

Top tip.

Don't go to London.