CONGESTION CHARGING

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The RAC Foundation said local authorities outside London would have to make "massive improvements" in public transport to cope with a charging system. It also warned that without a charter to protect motorist's rights, the charge could become a "poll tax on wheels." In London the congestion charging began on 17 February and has resulted in a fall in traffic levels of about 20%. The foundation, the campaigning arm of the RAC, describes London's transport set-up as very different to other areas where people are far more dependent on the car for their work and lifestyle.

The RAC Foundation's executive director, Edmund King, said there would be a great temptation among many local authorities to try to jump on the London charging scheme bandwagon. "We advise them to hold their horses," he said. "The London scheme is working well but central London is unique in that 86% of commuters used public transport before congestion charging was introduced. In every other city, the majority commute by car." Mr King said most UK cities relied on the bus as the main means of public transport whereas London had an extensive underground and overground rail network.

He said public transport was struggling to cope with extra passengers in London so other cities would have to make massive improvements before there was a viable alternative to the car. Speaking at an Institution of Electrical Engineers' conference in London, Mr King added that in central London congestion charging did not directly affect the majority of commuters as they used public transport, but that in other cities it will hit them financially. "In order to convince motorists to accept charging outside London they will have to be offered viable alternatives up front," he said.

London's congestion charge should be increased to £8, mayor Ken Livingstone has proposed. Mr Livingstone has asked Transport for London (TfL) to begin consulting on a £3 increase for a private car to enter the central zone. But he said he wanted the charge for "commercial fleet vehicles" to rise to just £7. Mr Livingstone said, "The congestion charge has been an unprecedented success in dramatically reducing congestion, pollution and accidents. We need to maintain and build upon this."

He added, "I am proposing one large increase in this mayoral term to maintain the effectiveness of the charge and raise additional revenues to further reduce congestion as part of TfL's £10bn, five-year investment programme." Mr Livingstone said the proposed increase would be accompanied by a raft of measures aimed at reducing the "hassle" of paying the charge. The congestion charge, which was introduced in February 2003, has been credited with reducing congestion in central London by 30% with 70,000 fewer vehicles entering the zone. It raised £79.8m in its first year and was projected to raise about £100m in subsequent years.

According to the mayor's office, the proposed rise in the charge would bring in an extra £50m to £60m per year and see traffic numbers cut by a further 5%. But Angie Bray, from the London Assembly Conservatives, said, "This rise will be bad for business, bad for key workers such as teachers who have to enter the zone, and bad for all hardworking Londoners who already pay too much tax." And the Liberal Democrats' Lynne Featherstone, chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee, said, "This price hike has nothing to do with reducing congestion but everything to do with raising a bob-or-two."

The prospect of congestion charging spreading from London to other cities in the near future looked remote after the people of Edinburgh voted overwhelmingly against the introduction of road tolls. Planners in York, Nottingham, Bristol and Cardiff considering similar schemes may have to think again, or take a similar line to the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, and do it without a referendum. The Government, in its transport White Paper last summer, pledged it would try to build a consensus for congestion charging throughout Britain.

Almost 180,000 of Edinburgh's 290,000 voters, a turnout of nearly 62%, voted in Britain's first referendum on the subject, and more than 74% rejected the idea. A council spokesman said, "The idea is now dead and buried." Stephen Joseph, director of the environmental group Transport 2000, called the result a "victory for the pro-motoring lobby" but said the fight would continue elsewhere. "This is a setback for Edinburgh but does not mean the end of city-centre congestion charging as an idea," he said. "Councils elsewhere will have to work harder to explain benefits and allay fears."

The Edinburgh scheme would have levied a £2 charge on motorists entering the city, to be spent on enhancing public transport. Had it been successful, Edinburgh would have become the first city in Britain entirely cordoned for charging, because London's scheme is restricted to the city centre.

Supporters of the charge had hoped it would have generated £760m over 20 years, to be spent on world-class tram and train links. The "yes" lobby said an inner and outer cordon would have resulted in less traffic, which is expected to increase by 25% in a decade, with cleaner air to prevent the deaths of up to 240 people a year. But "no" campaigners, backed by local authorities in Fife, Midlothian and West Lothian, feared it would damage the economy and push traffic into residential areas. (Source: The Independent)