The central London congestion charging zone

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Source: “http://www.cchargelondon.co.uk”

Introduction

In February 2003 the city of London was introduced with a new city congestion charge scheme. According to this legislation, all the vehicles, with some exemptions, operating within the Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ) in central area of London between 07:00 and 18:00 during weekdays are liable to a charge. Exemptions are applied to weekends and public holidays. The charge has been designed in order to reduce traffic congestion and raise the revenues to establish public transport improvements in the city.

Background

Traffic jam has been a substantial problem for many years for the central part of London. As a result, the congestion charging has been a subject for the discussion for many years. In 1995 the government Office for London released its London Congestion Research Programme in which the number of technical options for reducing traffic congestion and its benefits to the city were published. Afterwards in March 2000 “Road Charging Options for London, a technical assessment” was introduced to the public. Ken Livingstone – a candidate for the post of London Mayor in 2000, promised that he would reduce the traffic in London by 15% by 2010. He proposed several options to discourage residents not to make unnecessary journeys in a small zone of the city, and he, therefore, had aimed to promote more environmentally and economically efficient transport facilities. In the end, after comprehensive considerations and consultations with city residents and local authorities, the London Congestion Charge came into effect on February 17, 2003.

 Aims

According to London city Mayor’s Transport Strategy, the congestion charge was accompanied with other types of public transportation improvement proposals. All of them intended to make public transport efficient, affordable, and more reliable.

According to Mayor’s Transport Strategy, the London Congestion Charge aims:

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• to reduce congestion
• to make radical improvements to bus services
• to improve journey time reliability for car users
• to make the distribution of goods and services more efficient”, (Impacts monitoring, Sixth Annual Report, July 2008)

As implementation of London Congestion Charge, Transport for London (TfL) charges during the weekdays from 7 am to 6 pm except bank and public holidays a daily charge of £10. According to the regulation, the charge of £10 applies if you pay in advance or on the day, but it increases to £12 if payment is made by midnight on the following charging day. Also, if drivers register to Congestion Charging Auto Pay, the daily charge of £9 applies, and businesses are eligible for the payment of £9 for each vehicle detected within the charge zone if they register with TfL.

A number of network cameras have been installed to control the car movements in London. The network cameras picture vehicles’ number plates after they enter, drive around and leave the charge zone. The vehicles’ number plates are matched against database of those who have already paid or are exempt for the charge, so if it is matched, the photographic images of those cars are automatically erased from the control database machine. If vehicles had been in the charge zone and recorded as a daily charge has not been paid, those vehicles are penalized by paying a penalty fine of £120. If it is paid within 14 days, it is reduced to £60, but if those failed to pay it is increased to £187 after 28 days.

Scope and Coverage

London Congestion Charge applies to the central zone of London to all vehicles crossing the entry points from 7am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday with some exemptions.

According to an official website of Transport for London, some are free from the congestion charge if they register with TfL and also if the vehicle reported at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency under the next exemption categories:

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• Two-wheeled motorbikes (and sidecars), and mopeds
• Emergency service vehicles, such as ambulances and fire engines, which have a taxation class of ‘Ambulance’ or ‘Fire engine’
• NHS vehicles that are exempt from road tax
• Vehicles used by disabled people that are exempt from road tax and have a ‘disabled’ taxation class
• Vehicles for more than one disabled person (for example Dial-A-Ride) exempt from road tax and have a ‘disabled’ taxation class
• HM Coastguard and Port Authorities
• Certain operational vehicles used by the London boroughs
• The armed forces
• Royal Parks Agency
• Breakdown organisations
• a London licensed minicab or taxi
• Certain vehicles, including buses, registered in European Economic Area member states “(http://www.tfl.gov.uk, 2013).

Boundary

London Congestion Charge zone covers both London Inner Ring Road and West End. The London Inner Ring Road is the primary financial centre while the West End is known as city’s heart for entertainment and shopping.

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Source: “Photo Gallery: London congestion charge”

In order to assist drivers to recognize the congestion charge applicable area the signs were set up and symbols were painted in the charge zones.

Allocation of Revenue

According to Mayor’s Transport System, all the revenue raised from the congestion charge must be spent on the improvement of public transport and road safety. In general, according to Greater London Authority Act 1999, the congestion charge was forecasted to generate £121 million of net revenue.

“Application of net congestion charging revenue for 2003–04

Initiative	Spending £m
Bus network improvements	81
Increasing late-night public transport	3
Safety and security improvement schemes (e.g. expansion of CCTV on buses)	4
Total improving public transport	88
Safer routes to schools	6
Road Safety Plan	36
Total safer streets	42
Total expenditure	130
Congestion net income	121

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source: “http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/14932/1/14932.pdf, London Congestion Charge, page 12.”

Impact on Residents

According to Mayor of London, the low income family would not be affected by London Congestion Scheme since they may not afford having a car and already rely on public transport. A study conducted by the Commission for Integrated Transport of restaurant, hospitality and health workers concludes the congestion charge does not fall heavily on low paid workers in Central London because of low occurrence of car ownership and reliance on public transport. Conversely, those low income residents benefit from the well-organized public transportation system since its improvement is a part of Mayor’s Transport System.

Furthermore, there are controversies on the impacts of the congestion fee on businesses in central part of London. Some claim that the charge constrains the development of the business while others say that decongestion have been conducive to working environment. A number of surveys had been conducted to analyze the impact of the charge on businesses; however, because of their ambiguity Transport for London in its report on Congestion charging in July, 2008 concluded that it awaits the availability of independent dataset on the influence of the congestion charge on the businesses in the light of macro-economic volatility. The Transport for London in its report in 2008 reported,

”General economic trends were seen to have been the predominant influence on the performance of central London businesses over recent years, and the central London economy had actually performed particularly strongly since the introduction of congestion charging in 2003, which itself coincided with an economic upturn.”

In other words, there is no clear evidence that the charge has been a burden for businesses in a central part of London.

In conclusion, Transport for London had expected that after imposition of the congestion charge driving residents of London would switch to public transport. As implementation of Mayor’s Transport Strategy, over the last years there have been improvements on public transport services. A number of night busses as well as frequency and capacity of daytime busses have been increased. TfL’s figures shows that there has been a 7 percent increase in the number of passengers taking a public transport in recent years. As I mentioned before, a number of surveys and studies have been conducted to weigh the effectiveness of the regulation. However, there are controversies related to its implementation, but there is still no evidence against it. Therefore, it will remain as one of regulatory instruments to control the traffic in London. Briefly, in the short run people have transferred to public transport and started to bike while in the long run businesses may reallocate themselves outside the charge zone. All in all, taking into account density of London, in my opinion, London Congestion Charge is a constructive instrument for the regulation of traffic in the city because it encourages people not to make unnecessary journey in the centre of the city instead it motivates residents to switch to more efficient transport while saving their precious time.

References:

1. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/sixth-annual-impacts-monitoring-report-2008-07.pdf
2. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/congestioncharging/6723.aspx
3. http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/14932/1/14932.pdf
4. http://legacy.london.gov.uk/assembly/reports/transport/congestion_charging_feb04.pdf
5. http://www.economicinstruments.com/index.php/air-quality/article/83-
6. http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/congestion_charging/index.html
7. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/congestioncharging/17098.aspx
8. http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/143/transport/how-effective-is-a-congestion-charge/