[Johanna]

Unfortunately a bomb exploded and injured a woman in a London Congestion Charge office, and being an American, I wondered what exactly a London Congestion Charge office was? I found out that if you want to drive a car into London you must pay a special toll. I wonder if the people who live inside the ring are exempt? This office supervises the cameras, collections and checkpoints, and penalties are established for failing to pay the toll, which sounds rather steep. The point is to encourage people to use public transportation.

London is the most populous city in the European Union with a population of 7.7 million and a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 15 million.

From here



I don't think New Yorkers would consider a toll system like that. Neither would Chicago. It would be unenforceable in Washington DC. It would doom a smaller city like Norfolk, Virginia economically. I wonder if Tokyo has such a tax? Does any one else have a tax like that in an area they live in? What is the collected money used for? Does the system prevent congestion and improve efficiency?

Johanna

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Its worked quite well reduced congestion and its helping the public transport system it wasnt just to try and reduce the congestion but it was an effort reduce emmisions, the tax as far as i know is used to improve the roads and fund public transport in the city of London. Having been to new york i would say it needs a congestion charge much more than london did, chichago isn't to bad when i spent a summer there we never had any problem of getting in and out the city but it has a really good public transport system and is small enough and nice enough that walking places is no real chore, we used to walk for miles and miles every day around the city.

Its kinda like a toll road in the US(which we dont have alot of here) except it covers city roads and you dont have to stop and pay, people who live inside the zone im fairly sure are exempt but i cant be to sure its been a while since i heard about it, also its based on the vehicle things like 4x4s or what you call SUVs get charged more as they are larger and less fuel effecient but green cars like hybrids, all electrical or bio fuel vehicles are exempt to the charge, although there are two rather large gas guzzling lexus hybrids that get round the charge but arent really much better than a normal car.

The charge isnt much and all it means is alot of people either just use public transport or park outside the zone in quieter areas and proceed on foot or again public transport which because it was so busy before didnt affect how quickly people get about in a large city.

They thought about it here in Edinburgh but it would only have really been needed in a very small area of Edinburgh and it was viewed as money making exercise which people didn't like as they wanted to include areas that don't have major traffic problems and public transport is well used as alot of people commute into the city from the suburban areas using public transport so the charge wasn't needed like it was in london.

It appears that someone is targeting driving enforcement they got one in the DVLA at Swansea today, and another in Wokingham to a company that makes licence plate recognition systems for speed cameras, so three in total. At least though we are finally getting to use all these new police units and kit to target "extremists" for something useful and a real crime.

[warriorscot]

Its worked quite well reduced congestion and its helping the public transport system it wasnt just to try and reduce the congestion but it was an effort reduce emmisions, the tax as far as i know is used to improve the roads and fund public transport in the city of London. Having been to new york i would say it needs a congestion charge much more than london did, chichago isn't to bad when i spent a summer there we never had any problem of getting in and out the city but it has a really good public transport system and is small enough and nice enough that walking places is no real chore, we used to walk for miles and miles every day around the city.

Its kinda like a toll road in the US(which we dont have alot of here) except it covers city roads and you dont have to stop and pay, people who live inside the zone im fairly sure are exempt but i cant be to sure its been a while since i heard about it, also its based on the vehicle things like 4x4s or what you call SUVs get charged more as they are larger and less fuel effecient but green cars like hybrids, all electrical or bio fuel vehicles are exempt to the charge, although there are two rather large gas guzzling lexus hybrids that get round the charge but arent really much better than a normal car.

The charge isnt much and all it means is alot of people either just use public transport or park outside the zone in quieter areas and proceed on foot or again public transport which because it was so busy before didnt affect how quickly people get about in a large city.

They thought about it here in Edinburgh but it would only have really been needed in a very small area of Edinburgh and it was viewed as money making exercise which people didn't like as they wanted to include areas that don't have major traffic problems and public transport is well used as alot of people commute into the city from the suburban areas using public transport so the charge wasn't needed like it was in london.

It appears that someone is targeting driving enforcement they got one in the DVLA at Swansea today, and another in Wokingham to a company that makes licence plate recognition systems for speed cameras, so three in total. At least though we are finally getting to use all these new police units and kit to target "extremists" for something useful and a real crime.

[kh1+2]

well i live in london (lucky me) and most people that i know just wait round the corner of the congestion charge and wait till 7:30 when its free but doin that just causes more traffic because during that time most people are on their way home so the congestion charge is a good idea to reduce traffic but they dont realise people will just wait for the congesation time to expire just to take their car to work and drive their car home
just because they have a car

[sari]

You know, Washington DC seems to be taking the opposite approach. The Metro system here is extremely crowded during peak times. There's already a 2-tier cost structure in place, so that rush-hour fares are higher than off-peak fares, with rush hour being (I think) from 6-9 am and from 3-7 pm. In order to try and reduce the crowds during the rush hour, the Metro board has proposed increasing rush hour fares - they think that will be an incentive to people to travel during non-peak times. What they fail to realize is that people are bound by the hours that they work. Those are the peak times because that's when government offices and businesses are opening and closing; the majority of the people using the Metro have to be traveling during that time. If the rates are raised, it may force more people to their cars, which will have the impact of reducing congestion on the Metro, but will only make the traffic situation worse. A congestion charge would be interesting, but I'm sure it wouldn't fly. They've tried in the past to tax commuters from outside Washington DC (from the Maryland and Virginia suburbs), which is basically a congestion charge, and have faced a revolt.

[Retired Tech]

Motorists in London have paid more than £677 million since the introduction of the congestion charge in 2003 — but only a fraction of this has been invested in other transport projects.

Traffic jams in central London have increased year-on-year since the introduction of the congestion charge.

Congestion in the central zone is forecast to rise by up to another 5 per cent after the extension of the charge into west London, which takes effect on Monday as many more residents will qualify for discounts and are likely to drive into central London more often. The scheme will also finish half an hour earlier.

[maregy]

I thought the congestion charge in London would be a good idea at first. It did work initially but traffic levels in the city have now got back to the level they were at before its introduction and have surpassed them.

The problem is people adapt to it. I work for a company outside london but have to travel in regularly. My company covers the charge so it makes no difference to me and i'm guessing most people are in the same situation. It's generally large businesses that swallow the extra cost as far as i can see and if thats the case it might make the government more money but it will never solve the traffic problem.

Residents in the area get a discount (as much as 90% I believe but i'm not certain).