Ken\'s \'Congestion Charges\'....

[Gavin Yates]

Brixton - right on the Viccy line - Streatham overground direct to Victoria. Next question.

And as a surveyor you'll know the flat prices in Brixton and Streatham - hardly minimum wage.

Something needs to be done in London - it's choking as it is and doing f*ck all aint gonna make it better.

You can't build anymore roads in South London. And these fictional minimum wage car owners/commuters - where can they park for free in Central London? I didn't know people in McJobs got company parking!

[Steve Summers]

You lot are lucky in Derbyshire we have to pay a charge to leave

[John Holmes]

Hi Gang (LOL)
Cant wait for Manchester to start it!!
Years ago I worked in the City Centre and the firm |I worked for would not meet parking expenses (as we had to have a car for customer home and evening appointments and also had to spend a good part of the day actually on the bank premises, I used to spend a small fortune on parking meters, because I just couldn't afford to NCP the car for the day. Now to the interesting bit. I used to park the car and then walk half a mile or so to work. Any body who knows Manchester city centre will know where St Peters square(Central Library) near GMEX is in relation to Piccadilly gardens. Well every morning I used to walk this route and used to choke to death on the clapped out monster of our public transport system - yes the good old bus. Slow, polluting and cumbersome with drivers who got their licences out of corn flake packets!!:outtahere:
How many people were sat on these mosters(most of them double decker) yes you've guessed it 2 or 3 if any at all!!

When I drove my car into Manchester it was always less than two years old and was serviced annually by the company, which included a stringent emissions check. I drove it in parked it up and there it remained until I got into it and drove it OUT of the city at whatever time of day I went out on appointments. So the vehicle stood for hours causing no congestion, no fumes zilch!! But what it did do was provide Manchester City Council with a small fortune over the year along with countless thousands of small fortunes from other drivers! And lo and behold the penalty charge for getting back to the meter five minutes late!!
So, all the hours that I'm parked up, who's causing the congestion - it can only be the buses and those ultimate polluters of our god given oxygen - the black cab!!!

Given that most of our city centres are already pedestrianised/park and ride what is the real aim of congestion charges?? Should it really be called a parking charge??? If so what is going to happen to the parking meters - are they being removed or are they staying as an extra form of revenue for the councils? Whatever happens - one thing is sure- I may have parked in Manchester but my council tax was paid to another council. If Manchester lose the parking revenue from myself and thousands like me tell me who is going to replace it?? Its all very well having an easier time parking near your home - but how many will welcome an inevitable hike in council tax??

Yes the car causes congestion but so does single lane funneling for road works when there isnt a single workman or plant machine in sight! Many cities on the continent do inner city work overnight to ease congestion - not us though! We seem to wait until the busiest time possible to dig up/lay/widen/extend.
Bus lanes are another sacred cow of the councils - taken in isolation they are a fine idea, if the buses are well used. These lanes have been around for years now - are there any more people on buses? Apparently not. And wouldn't it take an arsehole like Prescott to come up with the idea of a bus lane for the M4??!! He should have been a scriptwriter for Steve Wright - he kept his show going for weeks!!

Agreed, our cities are gridlocked, and the transport strategy for the country is an absolute shambles - but I still have to ask what congestion charging is going to solve as some centres are traffic free already. Will people drive en masse to "the frontier" and then spend hours looking for places to park in the surrounding streets to the annoyance of residents? Or will they use the bus/trai?? Somehow I think we all know the answer!!!

[Mark Chase]

Probelm with the tube is it dosent run early enough or late enough we realy need a 24hour service in 2003.

Trust me plenty of minimum wager's in Streatham and Brixton you can still rent a place round there for 500 a month and you can still get a house for under 170,K. They arnt in the posh bits but what do you expect.

Somthing has to be done CORRECT but this is just a tax that people wil either aford or not as the case may be.

There is parking in London if you know where to look and lots of the hotells have off road parking for staff. I know My dad worked at the Dorchester at Hyde Park corner as a cheff and he drove in every day from Coulsdon at 4.30am (first bus 6.00 first no tube but tubedosent run tll 6.30am)

If he was on a late shift he would miss the last train home too that being at 11.00pm and he finished at 2.00am.

I run three vans and a car in London so my company will be paying an additional £5000 a year which we will have to pass on to the customers. We have no option but to drive in London so no mater how much they charge we will just pay and go it wont make any diference.

Somthing has to be done

How about School busses??
How about Intigrated mass parking and transport A la park and ride
How about a subsidised train network
How about building additional underground networks
How about Trams
How about banning HGV's from city centres
How about utalising the Thames more with river taxies and proper jetties


Go to Bremen in Germany

Fantastic dirt cheep reliable 24 hour public transport and congestion free city centres.

To make people use public transport it has to be safe cleen and eficient. Three things the UK system is not.

Probelm MONEY

Its much easia to just hyke up tax than it is to invest in public services.

Modern clean transport with real live Poliece men supervising platforms and stations and roads would go a long way to me risking my daughter traviling home at 11.00 at night on public transport.

Just charging more money only affects those who cant aford to pay its not a solution it's just a deterrent.

IF god forbid the Billions that this is going to rase actualy gets put back into the public transport system I will aplaud it but I doubt if that will hapen. Just look at petrol tax and the false promisis made there.

Mark Chase

[Gavin Yates]

Mark, agreed - on improvements in public transport.

However, as someone who no longer lives in England's capital, and is quite glad to continue that I'll ditch at this point.

All improvements need to be paid for by someone - what do you suggest, privatisation? raising taxes? or maybe something else.

Having thought about it - in London - I really don't give a f*ck.

[MATTBIN]

Well if today was typical of what we can expect - brilliant!! less cars than I thought possible, quiet (noise pollution virtually gone) and hopefully less stressful too as we dont all have to fight each other to cross the road, beat the lights or each other. Whack it up and whack it out another few miles! I might be slightly biased as motorbikes are freeeeeee!!!
Matt

[Lou]

Of course it is half term so the roads were quieter anyway!

Forget congestion charges, lets just stop the kids going to school!

[Dr Stevil]

or alternatively, keep them there, that way mummy and daddy won't have to get the 4x4 out of the garage to take the little darlings 200 metres down the road, as one of my neighbours does! sheesh!!
V. Meldrew

[MATTBIN]

Agreed its half term but I dont remeber the roads being this quiet on a half-term before. I'll hold fire getting the champagne out for a while then. Just nipped out lunch time and its still quite in the centre of Town.
Nice one Ken, power to the people (and their bikes).
Matt

[Dominic]

Haven't u been keeping up with the conspiracy theorists?

There's a widespread belief that the traffic lights were all set to cause snarl-ups, and masses of roadworks were all launched, making London massively congested over the last few months.

Then on the day of the congestion charge, the lights were re-synched to allow traffic to flow, and all the roadworks were completed. Plus all the "Doom and gloom" predictions about the chaos it would cause leading to many people who would have driven in steering well clear.

Leading to quotes like this one:

"I went in to central London today, and noticed ...
The traffic lights on A406/A1 junction, today allowed traffic to clear before going red again.
The roadworks on A41 at the top of the hill where you turn onto Finchley Road, have gone.
The lights on Tottenham Court Road and Gower St are both back in sequence (If you travel at a steady 30 or just below, you'll not meet a red light. Like it used to be)

None of the above were evident on Thursday, when I did the exact same journey."