Congestion Charge

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Mon 25 Aug 2003 10:47
Congestion Charge - nick
The London congestion charge is 6 months old now. Here are a few stats from this week's 'Economist' magazine (a surprisingly good read):
Delays down a third;
average speed in the zone up by nearly 40%;
most of the 100k drivers a day who pay are satisfied;
a study of 504 London businesses found nearly 75% said it hadn't harmed profits, 9% said it had, nearly half said it was working well;
net revenue only half that predicted, therefore more subsidy needed;
public transport fares raised, tube by 3.6%, buses by 7.4%.

William Hill put Ken Livingstone at 3-1 on for re-election.

So is it a success or failure?
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Mon 25 Aug 2003 10:51
Congestion Charge - sean
Sounds like a success, but where has all the money gone?

I'm a Yorkshireman and would like to see a full account of every penny.

Road pricing seems to be a good thing, but if profits are made, they should be ploughed into worthwhile schemes or even made to finance reductions in eg road tax. If road tax was set at £25 per car, with the rest of the revenue made up from congestion charging and such, we could have revenue even policies.

I just think someone will be making a killing out of this scheme.
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Mon 25 Aug 2003 11:10
Congestion Charge - Chris75
I was listening to a radio show the other day and they were saying that it (congestion charge) was a failure because it wasn't making enough money.

But surley the point of it was to reduce traffic. so IMO it must be a success.

I just hope they don't bring it to Glasgow or Edinburgh.

BTW I don't get to London very often. Has it had much effect on the areas outwith the charge?

Chris
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Mon 25 Aug 2003 12:28
Congestion Charge - Rob the Bus {P}
As far as I know, the CC has had mixed fortunes. Success in that the number of cars driving into central London has fallen, but failure in that it has been toosuccessful. The revenue is nowhere near what it was forecasted to be (around 20% lower, IIRC).

Just watch either the charge increase and/or the area it covers expand dramatically in an attempt to off-set the losses.

Cheers

Rob
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Mon 25 Aug 2003 17:15
Congestion Charge - Marcos{P}
As far as the public are concerned it must be a success as traffic is less than it was.
As far as the politicians are concerned it is a complete failiure because it is not making enough money.

The scheme was never introduced with the objection of reducing congestion, it was introduced to make money. If it was introduced primarily to reduce congestion there were other, cheaper ways of detering motorists.
As Rob has said just watch the charges go up and/or the area it covers expand.
I think we have all been conned. Again!
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