York residents have rejected plans to introduce congestion charging in the city centre.
The local council claims York's roads will be 28 per cent busier by 2021 and a congestion charge zone in the city centre was one way it was hoping to combat the problem.
However, after a council-led public consultation, a majority of residents said they'd be against a congestion charge zone being introduced.
Instead, residents said they'd like to see an improved bus service in the city and a freight depot being established on the outskirts of the city. Other proposals that the council is considering include road improvements, more cycle routes and better public transport services.
The council will consider the result of the residents' vote a week today.
Join the debate
Add your comment
Re: York rejects congestion charging
A good way to help with congestion? If the police / DVLA got of there back sides and clamped and then crush all the thousands of cars / vans which are: not taxed, have no MOT, no insurance, are in a unroad worthy condition, drivers who are banned etc, etc.
DVLA please stop using the stupid adverts saying that untaxed cars can not hide from them, I know plenty doing just that! I see the same cars every day, with faulty lights, leaving behind clouds of smoke, nothing is done to them! If they say there is not enough staff then simply all the £££££ of fine monies could pay the staffs wages with ease.
Re: York rejects congestion charging
As someone who has made casual study of a few inner city transportation systems I offer two for this debate:
Edinburgh's fine citizens rejected congestion charges some years ago, whereupon the Greens in their wisdom, supported by the Lib-Dems, imposed a completely unnecessary tram system on that great Georgian city centre and screwed up its roads totally, putting shops and stores out of business in the process. The mess and chaos exists still. (Residents are still to discover overhead electric wires were airbrushed out of the tram's advertising hype.) I think it's called official vandalism.
And I read the tram system will not do what it was supposed to do, namely get folk to the airport. It stops a mile before it. Thereafter you take a bus, a dear old fashioned bus! At £800 million and counting it would be cheaper to issue everybody with a free taxi pass to the airport, valid until the end of the century.
In addition, Edinburgh was complimented by the EEC for having the most comprehensive bus service in Europe. All that was needed was a few electric buses to add to the city's excellent service.
In Singapore there is a congestion system installed some years now; at congestion times any vehicle can traverse the city centre ... but at a cost. Cameras photograph the vehicle and an invoice pops through your letterbox in a week. Use the centre at peak times at the charge is high; use it at off-peak times and the charge is low. So far it seems to disciplined drivers to switch some journeys to off-peak hours ... but my information on the scheme's current statistics needs updated.
Re: York rejects congestion charging
Not a great time for politicians is it, nobody wants to give them what they want.
I commute to my crappy paid job in belfast, if there was a congestion charge, or worse still road pricing many in the same position as me would have to consider the cost of the commute and weigh up the pros and cons of having a job. Having tried to use public transport for a week and ended up sleeping in work 3 out of the 5 days I wish they would acknowledge that a car is not a luxury it is a neccessity for our economy.