Table Of ContentCongestion Charging in London
Also by Martin Richards
A DISAGGREGATE TRAVEL DEMAND MODEL (withMoshe Ben-Akiva)
Congestion Charging in
London
The Policy and the Politics
Martin G. Richards
© Martin G. Richards 2006
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2006 978-1-4039-3240-2
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First published 2006 by
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PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the
Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of
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ISBN 978-1-349-51602-5 ISBN 978-0-230-51296-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230512962
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Richards, Martin G. (Martin Gomm)
Congestion charging in London : the policy and the politics /
Martin G. Richards.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Congestion pricing—England—London. 2. Traffic
congestion—England—London. 3. Urban transportation
policy—England—London. I. Title.
HE336.C66R53 2005
388.4(cid:2)13142–dc22 2005047605
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06
Contents
List of Figures and Tables xi
Preface xii
Acknowledgements xiv
List of Abbreviations xv
1 The Mayor’s Challenge 1
Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London 1
The Blair Government’s transport policy: The New Deal …
for Everyone 2
Road user charging for London 2
A new source of revenue for the Mayor? 3
Completing the legal processes 4
Full steam ahead 6
Go live: 17 February 2003 6
The first 18 months 6
This book 7
2 Why Charge? 9
Introduction 9
Traffic flow 9
The economic rationale 11
The wider rationale 15
Equity 16
William Vickrey 17
Alan Walters 19
Milton Friedman 19
The Smeed Report 20
Gabriel Roth 20
Parking controls 21
National road pricing 21
Value pricing 23
Journey time reliability 23
A commentary 24
3 How to Charge? 27
Introduction 27
v
vi Contents
Some guiding principles 27
The charging bases 29
Paper licences 31
Virtual licences 32
Electronic tags 33
Global Navigation Satellite Systems 35
Enforcement: managing violations 37
Inter-operability 39
Payment arrangements and civil liberties 40
A commentary 41
4 Highways and Traffic Restraint in London before
the Mayor 44
Introduction 44
Planning for new road networks 44
Better use of town roads 46
The Greater London Council Supplementary Licensing
Scheme 47
Parking 48
The area control study 49
The London Assessment and other contemporaneous studies 50
The London Planning Advisory Committee 50
‘A Cleaner, Faster London’ 52
The London Congestion Charging Research Programme 52
A commentary 57
5 Experience around the World 60
Introduction 60
The Singapore Area Licensing Scheme 60
Electronic Road Pricing in Singapore 62
Norway 65
Rome 67
CityLink, Melbourne, and Highway 407, Toronto 68
The USA: value pricing 68
Variable tolls, elsewhere 69
Europe: trucks 70
Australian parking place levies 72
Stockholm 73
Hong Kong 74
The Netherlands 77
A commentary 79
Contents vii
6 A New Beginning: The Blair Government, Congestion
Charging and a Mayor for London 82
Introduction 82
The Ten-Year Plan for Transport 83
The Mayor of London, the Greater London Authority and
the London Assembly 85
Road Charging Options for London, ROCOL 89
The Mayoral election 95
A commentary 96
7 The Formalities: The Mayor’s Transport Strategy for
London and his Congestion Charging Scheme 99
Introduction 99
The formal enabling process 100
The first step, Hearing Londons’ Views 101
The Mayor’s draft Transport Strategy 103
Consulation on the draft Transport Strategy 104
The final Transport Strategy 106
The Scheme Order 107
A public inquiry? 109
Confirmation of the Scheme Order 110
The legal challenges 110
A commentary 112
8 The Mayor’s Congestion Charging Scheme 114
Introduction 114
The charged area and period 114
The charge and paying it 115
Exemptions and discounts 117
Automatic Number Plate Recognition 119
Penalties, representations and appeals 121
A commentary 123
9 Implementing the Mayor’s Congestion Charging Scheme 125
Introduction 125
Building the congestion charging team 125
Managing the project 127
The procurement strategy 128
Enforcement 130
Assessing the impacts 131
Traffic management 132
viii Contents
Public transport 133
Communications 135
Finances 136
The application of net revenues 139
The Audit Commission 140
A commentary 140
10 The London Assembly: Scrutinizing the Scheme 147
Introduction 143
The Assembly’s congestion charging scrutiny, 2000 143
The Mayor’s response 148
The project budget and plan 149
The on-going scrutiny 149
Monitoring the charge impacts 151
The public concerns behind the politics 152
The Capita contract 152
A commentary 156
11 The Critics, Doubters, Fence Sitters and Supporters 159
Introduction 159
Government and Parliament 159
The London Assembly 163
The London boroughs 164
The business sector 165
Transport user and environmental groups 168
Charities 170
The World Wide Web 170
The people 171
The press 172
A commentary 175
12 The First Year 179
Introduction 179
The economic background 180
The early days 181
The first year’s traffic 183
Congestion 186
Bus and rail 188
Taxis 191
Cyclists and pedestrians 191
People with disabilities 192
Low income groups 192
Contents ix
Travel behaviour overall 193
Attitudes to congestion charging 194
The emergency services 196
Road safety 196
The environment 197
Parking 197
Business and the economy 199
Scheme management 206
Revenues 213
Net costs and benefits 214
A commentary 216
13 Some Lessons Learned 221
Introduction 221
Foresight 221
Leadership and courage 221
Stability 222
Decisive and speedy action 223
A balanced package 223
A robust scheme 223
Sound research and analysis 224
A good legal framework 225
A single authority 225
Cooperation 226
Adequate funding 226
Pragmatism 226
Technical competence 227
Project management 227
Obtaining and retaining broad support 227
Congestion charging is NOT a licence to print money 228
The use of revenues 229
Enforcement 230
A commentary 230
14 The Future 232
Introduction 232
The 2004 Mayoral election 232
Extending the scheme 234
Technology 239
Charges, and paying them 240
Other UK cities 243
