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This has been running for a while now and Manchester is considering a similar charge. Is there any evidence that it's actually working and the roads in London are less congested or are motorists just paying up?
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Yes London inside the CC zone, is a LOT quieter. Its actualy quite pleasant to walk and cycle around there now.
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I agree that it is during the day, I'm not sure its made much/any difference during rush hour though.
I think its driven out the tourist/visiting traffic rather than the commuting/working trffic.
Only a subjective opinion though, I know of no trustable independent evidence.
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Manchester is my home town and I do love it but I would never drive into it to spend money there. I?d go to the Trafford Centre. There are a million things to see and do in London, but Manchester? Come on. I think there?s a danger that a congestion charge would suffocate a city like that.
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Agreed; but again a subjective opinion.
Whilst Ken's claims for the reduction in traffic can hardly be called independent, I think he still has enough opposition who would love to dispute his claims; however I have not heard of anyone who has done so.
It will be interesting to see what effect the proposed enlargement of the zone will have, especially as those in the 'outer' zone will still be charged for entering the 'inner' zone.
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Do they? Blimey thats unfair!
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No doubt at all that traffic is better; I drive within the zone regularly, and IMHO Ken missed a trick by not making the area wider at the onset of the scheme.
There's sizeable (and well organised) campaign by the residents of Kensington & Chelsea to prevent the extention of the zone. I'm sure it'll fall on deaf ears, as the public perception is that the 'toffs' who are the driving force behind the protest can probably afford to stump up the cash if they insist on driving their X5s around town.
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Clearly the experience is better for those that can afford it however those that can't are not now a measurable statistic and are now struggling on the bus or tube or have been driven out of working/living in Central London all together.
Rather like raising road tax to £5000 p.a would clear the M4 elevated nicely for the SL55 driving, Berkshire residing city bankers.
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As much as inner zone is (depending on source) around 17-20% quieter (which basically means that 80% of city traffic was caused by cabs and busses in the first place). The outside boundries of congestion charge are however much busier. That part was never taken into account during CC planning, and so most of the roads were simply not prepared for rise in volume of traffic. New Kent Road is a single lane locked solid parking, Tower Bridge Road has 20 mph restriction creating queues back to Elephant and Castle, Old Street round about, Great Eastern Road where all traffic from A12/A13/A2 going north and east ends up... At the end of the day delivery vans and contractors never stopped driving through city, they just changed the route...
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Clearly the experience is better for those that can afford it however those that can't are not now a measurable statistic and are now struggling on the bus or tube or have been driven out of working/living in Central London all together.
Those using the bus in London outnumber the car drivers, and the congestion charge has made bus journeys much quicker.
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>>Those using the bus in London outnumber the car drivers, and the congestion charge has made bus journeys much quicker.>>
The key to success of any congestion scheme is if public transport is of the standard and cost required to encourage people to leave their car either at home or use a park and ride scheme for the final part of the journey.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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