If you don't live in London (UK), you're almost certainly blissfully unaware that London has a congestion charge (£8/$16 per day to enter central London). Until last week the charge covered the 'centre' of London, but has been doubled in size to take in a large chunk of West London.
I don't want to plunge too far into the politics on this. To start with I ride a motorbike most days (not included in the charge...yet), and I guess at some point the reality of too many cars and not enough space needs to be addressed. However, there are a couple of ironies about the charge, and in particular the extention.
Irony 1:
Our esteemed London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, is widely acknowledged as the socialist champion of the working man. Interesting therefore that he brings in a charge which prices the working man off the road, and damages the trade of the small businessman (e.g. small shop owners etc.). Big business and wealthy people aren't detered.
Irony 2:
Ken Livingstone undertook a major 'public consultation' (at great expense to the London taxpayer) when he was considering extended the congestion area. The feedback from the residents of the soon to be enlarged congestion area overwhelming rejected the idea of extending the zone.
The Mayor almost entirely ignored the public feedback... so much for democracy
Irony 3:
The congestion charge has been extended into the wealthiest neighbourhoods in London (e.g. Knightsbridge, Chelsea, Kensington etc.). These are not people that stopped driving to work for £8 a day when the original congestion charge was defined. But now, because they live in the congestion area, they get a 90% discount. So Ken's stuck almost two grand back in the pockets of all these people.
Meantime, if you commute to work in London on public transport, I challenge you to arrive on time every day for one week!
graeme
4 Comments
2) Wasn't aware of that. He probably should have skipped the entire step. For the good of the planet's future, I don't think the congestion charge in general is something that people's (natural and understandable, it is human nature after all) laziness and selfishness should have prevented.
3) Almost agree. In my view any extension is a good extension, but I think northwards into Camden would have made far more sense.
So yeah, as I say, I'm not sure this was the most logical extension. However, the original congestion charge has been shown to be a success greater even than expected. I do think road pricing is the way forward, though. And much heavier taxes on petrol, preferably dedicated taxes with the proceeds funneled in to public transport, including inter-city transport (the rail system, coaches).
Hey you know AdGuy always gets the last word! ;)