Congestion Charging

[Tranplanner]

Is anyone else out there following events in London, UK regarding their new congestion charging scheme?

Is anyone else out there considering such a scheme in their city?

What do people think about congestion charging?

Some links:

https://www.cclondon.com/WebCenterBrandedTR4/StaticPages/Index.aspx

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035777694561&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News

Additional links: http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1575487

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/02/17/london.traffic/index.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2770721.stm

 

[Chet]

Yikes

I never heard of it before, but it sounds like a monumental bureaucratic undertaking. From the web site:

At midnight, images of all of the vehicles that have been in the congestion charging zone are checked against the vehicle registration numbers of vehicles which have paid their congestion charge for that day. The computer keeps the registration numbers of vehicles that should have paid but not done so. A Penalty Charge Notice will be issued to the registered keeper of the vehicle.

The charging zone is HUGE!

 

[Budgie]

London

Yes, I read the BBC articles on London's plan to implement "congestion charges". I think London proper is only 1 square mile. We're talking about the anti-sprawl with few buildings over 6 stories tall and a maze of narrow streets and roundabouts. There would be no way to approach 100% fee compliance. The cabbies in London will find ways around it. Side streets may become clogged, but of course they already are.

 

[Runner]

Congestion Charging and its close cousin Congestion Pricing are a much needed mechanism to manage traffic. If traffic can be shifted to better utilize existing capacity we take a big step towards slowing the endless road building madness as we attempt, but never achieve, to build our way out of congestion.

 

[Tranplanner]

The Transportation Paper released by the Federal Ministry of Transportation yesterday (see "Straight Ahead Thread in this Forum") appears to lay the groundwork for the introduction of congestion charging in Canadian cities.

Personally, I don't see this happening anytime soon - traffic congestion is nowhere near what it is in some European cities...

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035778222374&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154

 

[Planderella]

I've heard of this before and I think it sounds like bureacracy from hell. My congestion charges are somewhat indirect....I pay more for gasoline and car repairs as a result of my daily commute in traffic.