Who needs the congestion charge when it costs, wait for it
£5 to park for one hour.
It's insane.
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The congestion charge is a waste of time.
Takes hundreds of people to administer.
Hits trade in the area covered.
Add to cost of deliveries and service engineers etc.
Clogs up roads on the outskirts.
Does nothing for the places where congestion actually occurs: the six mile radius outside the congestion charge area.
A more sensible solution would be to shut down the car parks in central London and build them next to stations on the outskirts.
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Don't know about you Brian but I live on the outskirts of London and we already have more than our fair share of residential roads and car parks filled with commuters' vehicles all day. Where will it end?
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I take your points Brian, but to those of us who live and/or work here, the CC is a blessing - it's dramatically cut congestion and pollution and has re-established central london as the best place in the world - in my biased opinion....
CF
PS - I heard that the A34 is going to be made a toll road - has anyone else heard that?
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Has the congestion been reduced all because of the CC or because the traffic lights have been returned to their correct phasings?
I don't think you could turn the a34 into a toll road as it was built with public money and we therefore all own it. With the furore over petrol taxes any other costs placed upon motorists (sensible or not) would start some sort of protest in the short term and Mr Blair et al booted out of office at the next election.
Looks like the anti car people in Oxfordshire might be just daft enough....
www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/oxfordshire/news/OXNEW...l
teabelly
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"I don't think you could turn the a34 into a toll road as it was built with public money and we therefore all own it."
The roads in London were built with public money but they have been given over to the bus companies (although the public still maintain them).
Where's the difference?
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I was going to bring up Oxford.....carparks being built on and the establishment of ever more park and rides. It would seem that planning permission only gets the go ahead if there are fewer car spaces than employees or residents....figure that one out.
On the A34...ok if it is made a toll road then for many local journeys I will drive into Oxford then back out again rather than the short hop along one junction of the A34. Not what was intended I think. Perhaps they should take a long hard look at the impact on the local road network which has evolved to include use of the A34.
Ian L.
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And what a biased opinion!
Here is my biased opinion:- London is one of the vilest cities in which to drive, is smelly, overcrowded, full of lowlife and is one of the most expensive places in the world to in which to rent a hotel room and unless one eats chain junk food, it is also impossible to eat out for a reasonable amount!
I wouldn't live in or work in London for all the tea in China.(Even if I wasn't retired!).
A god forsaken hole!
Roger in Spain
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OK Roger - Deep Breaths.....;-]
One man's meat is the other man's proverbial as the saying goes.....
One things for sure - if we all wanted to live in the same place we'd be in a pretty pickle.
Teabelly - thanks for the digging re the A34 - sounds like one of those things they think up to scare people...Nothing wrong with the A34 if you ask me - OK it's busy but where isn't - Oh I know - Spain!
CF.
p.s. damn this heat.....
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I trust you're enjoying the view in the semi-desert!! Of course London is expensive. Supply and demand dictates that. Upper Volta is cheap I hear. And so is much of Spain.
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I trust you're enjoying the view in the semi-desert!! Of course London is expensive. Supply and demand dictates that. Upper Volta is cheap I hear. And so is much of Spain.
I think Roger in Spain is now Roger in Notts!!
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Rashid, nip over the river into SE1 and park on Southwark Street. You can park all day for £8.00 and are a 10 minute walk from St Pauls/Threadneedle Street or 2 minutes from London Bridge Tube.
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I don't live in London but, when I do go, or to other cities such as Liverpool or Manchester, I leave the car at home unless I'm only going to the outskirts, and use the train.
It's not only quicker but works out much cheaper, especially if you are travelling solo.
Even if I did live in London I really can't see the point of driving around when it has, to me at least, excellent Tube services that generally take you within a very short distance of where you wish to go.
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Even if I did live in London I really can't see the point of driving around when it has, to me at least, excellent Tube services that generally take you within a very short distance of where you wish to go.
London tube is the most expensive form of transportation in the world. Not to mention the dirtiest, sweatiest and completely incapable of handling such volumes of traffic. It's awaiting true disaster and national tragedy, maybe then the city will undertand the tube in it's 19th century shape can not possibly be treated as alternative to real transportation.
Congestion Charge only moved the big traffic few streets further. All gains were conveniently calculated in about the same time when bus lane network was open and traffic lights were rescheduled. While calculating gain for bus network and London cabbies noone ever attempted to calculate the financial loss to commuters and business users.
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Even if I did live in London I really can't see the point of driving around when it has, to me at least, excellent Tube services that generally take you within a very short distance of where you wish to go. London tube is the most expensive form of transportation in the world. Not to mention the dirtiest, sweatiest and completely incapable of handling such volumes of traffic. It's awaiting true disaster and national tragedy, maybe then the city will undertand the tube in it's 19th century shape can not possibly be treated as alternative to real transportation. Congestion Charge only moved the big traffic few streets further. All gains were conveniently calculated in about the same time when bus lane network was open and traffic lights were rescheduled. While calculating gain for bus network and London cabbies noone ever attempted to calculate the financial loss to commuters and business users.
Whilst what you say is largely true.. The tube is still the best way of getting around london.. well north of the river anyway :-)
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When I was working round central London (mainly north of the river)we always used the tube and very rarely a bus.
The buses are now complete overkill, get in each other's way, hold up all other traffic and most of the day only carry half a dozen passengers.
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My 3 years experience of tube travel - 1987-90 - were generally pretty positive except for when they all went on strike and when the great storm blew a load of trees on the central line (where it goes overground...).
I have to concur with a previous contributor that the reason I moved away from London was a certain dissatifaction with the London lifestyle - yearning for the countryside, although I do pop back from time to time and, at such times, find the tube to be a pretty reasonable form of transport...They've updated loads of stations and invested in new rolling stock - much improved since the late 80s when it REALLY was dirty and aged.
True I don't get to see it during the rush hour and I can imagine that it gets pretty squashed - but then it did in the late 80s too.
What has got so much worse? From my perspective, little seems to have changed except that quite a bit has been upgraded (albeit with plenty more to do...).
So what's the fuss, Londoners? And if you don't like it, get the hell out of there...there is life and jobs outside of London!!
Splodgeface
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There are two types of people that can afford to live in London:
The very rich,
And the very poor.
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When I was last in London the buses in the centre were pretty packed. And even if there were only six passengers, just think how much more space is taken up by 6 single occupant cars. Assumimg they didn't all tailgate to the max.
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Bus from Muswell Hill into central London - £1.
45 minutes
Car = £5 cong. charge once you've found a garage that does it (Safeways/Texaco in Camden)
Parking (central) - £10 for 2 hours or £10 for 6 hours (near Bedford Square)
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Bus from Muswell Hill into central London - £1.
45 minutes
Car = £5 cong. charge once you've found a garage that does it (Safeways/Texaco in Camden)
Parking (central) - £10 for 2 hours or £10 for 6 hours (near Bedford Square)
Dragging two 50 pound samsonite kevlar suitcases, suit holder, parot cage, two handbags of reading glasses and finally your inlaws from Victoria station back to Muswell Hill onboard of roaring and shaking Smokey The Routemaster Bus - PRICELESS.
:)
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Cheers for the tip No Dosh.
To add insult to injury have you heard that in certain boroughs in London, they are using cctv cameras to see if you are illegally parked, they take a photo and send you a ticket.
What a pink fluffy dice Take.
The government/local councils must think that we\'re a complete bunch of muppets, i dying for someone to organise some sort of boycott.
The fuel protests were a pain in the pink fluffy dice and got in everyones way, where as a boycott only really effects the subject of the boycott.
Just need to think of what to boycott :)
{Swearing ammended. Next time the whole post will be deleted as it\'s far easier. Please see rules regarding swearing at the top of the page. DD}1
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Bus from Muswell Hill into central London - £1. 45 minutes Car = £5 cong. charge once you've found a garage that does it (Safeways/Texaco in Camden) Parking (central) - £10 for 2 hours or £10 for 6 hours (near Bedford Square) Dragging two 50 pound samsonite kevlar suitcases, suit holder, parot cage, two handbags of reading glasses and finally your inlaws from Victoria station back to Muswell Hill onboard of roaring and shaking Smokey The Routemaster Bus - PRICELESS. :)
lol - but that's what 'ol Ken wants us to do :-]
I was actually talking about going to work, in C.London, in a car - a bit of a non starter.
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I too think the tube is great, although expensive. But that's partly because we don't ask taxpayers to fund travel for other people to the same extent as most other great cities.
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I am not from this country and it seem that parking is also an issue in this place just like in Finland country where some pay a very huge amount of toll for thier pysäköinnin valvonta just to avoid some issue on some private place on parking stuff.
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I fear that Richard's link is lost on most of us.
I would imagine that Finns and Poles must have a lot of trouble communicating. Finnish is full of tortured vowels, wheras Polish has one vowel to about 17 consonants.
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I never take a car to london now. congestion charge, low emission zones, a fortune to park and mega heavy traffic. Just not worth the hassle.
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Just remember the London Borough of Islington proudly boasts to the country's first 20mph zone - not just the side road but all roads, including trunk roads.
I am pleased I don't live in London anymore, forget parking, remember go elsewhere. My greatest sympathy is for the hard working people who need to travel for work and do so in the face of such hostility .... 20mph zones, traffic calming, no or expensive parkiing - I'm waiting for the red flag man to reappear.
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