Do Congestion Charges Work?

Friday, 29. August 2008

Whilst there are plenty of opponents to the congestion charge scheme in London for those that have no choice but to travel around the city centre it at least cuts down delays and enables them to get on with their business even at the cost of £8 per day – NOT! It would seem that London’s roads are just as gridlocked as they were 5 years ago when congestion charging was introduced. Now some may argue that without congestion charging London would have come to a complete standstill by now but others argue that the scheme has simply not worked and that other methods should have been employed to cut down on the congestion. Whatever the views are, the facts, according to a report prepared by Transport for London (TfL), show that the city is still as blocked, not helped by the amount of space available on the roads as a result of road works and traffic calming methods. This is not good news as other cities have announced, or are in the process of announcing their own congestion charging schemes following huge grants being provided by the Government. In June Manchester announced its plans following a £1.5 billion grant and in the wings other cities are waiting to make announcements including Bath, Birmingham, Bristol and Cambridge. Boris, the new mayor, said that he always thought that congestion charging was ‘a blunt instrument’ – nice turn of phrase Boris although the TfL did acknowledge that the charging has reduced the number of vehicles coming into London albeit to no effect on the resultant congestion. In order to ease the problem Boris Johnson is to introduce some new measures such as allowing motor cycles in bus lanes and re-phasing traffic signals. He is also exercising new powers that came into force in May 2008 to fine utility companies that cause delays as a result of badly planned work – which of course sounds good but how would you police it? TfL is also working on a Paris style scheme of bike hire to encourage Londoners to use pedal power and leave cars at home. There has already been a 12% increase in cycle journeys into the western zone. So our cities end up looking like China did 10 years ago whilst the Chinese zoom around in their Mercedes and Lexus filled up with subsidised fuel – someone has got it wrong somewhere methinks. Who said ‘On yer bike mate’? By Graham Hill