Getting London Moving

Written by Sally Hamwee on Thu 15th Aug 2002

City Hall overlooks Tower Bridge, which carries a section of the 'ring road' of the Mayor of London's congestion charge zone. Watching the bridge raised, and the ring road suspended, is bound to make anyone wonder whether the Congestion Charging Scheme will work, and the Mayor himself now boldly - or in panic? - says that if after two months it has not succeeded, then he will abandon it.

The Mayor clearly needs his summer holiday. The smallest traffic management scheme needs six months or so to settle down, and something as complex as the CCS will not change people's behaviour in 60 days - or if it does, that may be the honeymoon period and further experience will be needed before it can be assessed conclusively.

Certainly there are many concerns about the CCS. The very principle of charging drivers to bring their cars into central London has aroused considerable rage from many car owners and the motoring lobby (no newspaper has had its environment correspondent cover the issue). All kinds of groups - district nurses, firefighters, and RSPCA inspectors to name but three - understandably see themselves as essential workers who should be exempted. The Tories claim 'the car's the star' and seem opposed to every move to control its use.

Yet, significantly, London's business community, led by London First, has backed it strongly. Traffic congestion loses business millions each month. If the Mayor's scheme achieves its aim of reducing traffic in central London by 15%, it will be a winner financially. Businesses will easily recoup the £5 daily charge if vehicles on essential journeys can move faster.

Opponents do their best to generate urban myths. Ken Livingstone has not in fact rephased traffic lights to slow down traffic so that when his scheme is launched it will look like deliverance; rephasing in order to give pedestrians more time and bring London's signals into line with those elsewhere was planned by government before he was even elected. Cars with foreign, damaged or obscured plates will not escape penalties; the technology will enable police and traffic wardens to target unregistered vehicles.

On the periphery of the central zone naturally there are anxieties that traffic reaching the 'boundary' will back up causing jams and put acute pressure on already limited parking spaces. And further out there are worries about 'rail-heading' as people drive to where there are fast - but overcrowded and often unreliable - rail services into central London.

Even if the scheme proves a success, traffic congestion remains a serious problem in the outer London boroughs. There is considerable interest in pilot projects for 'Traffic Smart' which brought a 14% traffic reduction in Perth, Australia. Car owners were given personalised journey plans showing them how to get the best out of public transport alternatives.

The problem of long-distance commuters driving into London from surrounding counties needs more imagination - perhaps some thought could be given to the fact that rail lines cross the M25 at no fewer than 18 points. Public transport within London needs huge improvement (and though the Mayor may have withdrawn his case against the government, no-one outside Whitehall is convinced that PPP is the panacea for the Tube). And roll on the day when the boroughs can charge 'rental' to utilities that dig up the streets.

Congestion charging is a bold step. It will not by itself solve all our traffic problems. But it needs to be given a chance to work.