Is the C-Charge not working?
Congestion in central London is now as bad as it was before the C-Charge, it has been reported.
It is understood that Transport for London has finally publicly admitted that the freed road space created by the initial drop in traffic has now been taken up by other users.
Traffic is defined by the amount of vehicles on the road, and congestion is judged by how fast those vehicles are able to travel.
Apparently Michèle Dix, TfL's managing director of planning, revealed to delegates at a transport conference in London that the rise in congestion was also caused by more holes in the road created by utility companies.
She said that public opposition to road tolls had made TfL think twice about extending the congestion charge zone to the capital's outer boroughs, according to a report in the New Civil Engineer journal.
A petition to stop national road-pricing plans has attracted 1.8million signatories.
‘It made government turn off charging, which has made it difficult for us,’ Ms Dix told the conference.
'If road-user charging was to be extended, we would have to make it more acceptable. We would have to improve public transport.’
The AA has already claimed that congestion has risen and the latest report confirms this.
Paul Watters of the AA said: ‘It had become increasingly clear that benefits originally delivered by the charge were being eroded.
'Last year, TfL's own monitoring report said the initial 30 per cent improvement in congestion had slipped to just eight per cent - now it seems even that gain may have gone.
'The trouble is, by closing off side streets and short cuts and re-phasing traffic lights for pedestrians - all for laudable reasons - TfL has stifled traffic. Add to that pavement build-outs, re-engineered junctions, and you can see why congestion is rising.’
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