The cause of Congestion Charging in the UK has taken another double blow.
Durham’s city council has scrapped plans to extend road tolls and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said he would consider suspending the capital’s Congestion Charge to help the London economy during the recession.
The moves come in the wake of a resounding rejection by local voters of a congestion charge scheme due to cover much of Greater Manchester.
Durham already has already implemented a charge to enter the centre of the city, where access is restricted by the Medieval street layout.
However, after a comprehensive study into extending road tolling, the local council has dropped the idea.
The leader of council, Simon Henig, said that Durham wanted to "manage the amount of traffic entering and passing through the city" but didn’t want to put people off from visiting.
In the British capital, Johnson told the Mayor’s Question Time he would "brood" on the idea that the whole Congestion Charge scheme should be suspended in light of the economic situation.
"There is a problem with congestion in this city… before we did anything I would have to be assured that congestion would not be affected."
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Re: C-charge takes double hit
Since it's introduction 5 years ago the Congestion Charge has brought in revenues of just over £929 million (65% of which goes to Capita to run the thing!). Here's the crunch - the net cash generated for Tfl over those 5 years is £14 million - yes, only £14 million. In which case I think Tfl will hardly miss such a paltry amount.
Figures taken from the Association of British Drivers' report:
http://www.abd.org.uk/london_congestion_charge_report2007.htm
Re: C-charge takes double hit
Horseandcart - this is the best written honest Blog I have seen for a long time.
We seem to compound deep routed bad decisions with more bad decisions. However is it really the politicians fault - would we really suport a polititian who is brave enough to take us through the pain barrier? We really need to revolutionise our system so that we can get the best people to run our country - and support them.
Like the next government, Boris has little room for manoever. However the Conjestion Charge should never have been introduced - and we should correct this ill even if it means going through a pain barrier.
A Big Thank You to the people of Macester. The dispicable way in which they were threatened to withold funding makes their resounding No vote truly brave. It sends a clear signal to those who are supposed to represent the people that they should be listened to.
Re: C-charge takes double hit
If Boris does this, then it will be more to do with winning votes than saving the economy.
People cant afford to drive into town to go shopping anyway, as there is nowhere to park and the car parks are ridiculously expensive. He should have concentrated on the trams and bridges which had been planned, instead of scrapping them.
People forget that all this will have to be paid for. This means paying a large fine to the company that runs the charge as they have a long term contract - another waste of money. Also, where will cuts be made to make up for the revenue which TFL has been getting from the C-Charge over the last few years?