Transcript No Slide Title

International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and
Environmental Protection Association in association with the
Integrated Program on Urban, Regional and Global Air Pollution
Mexico City January 19-23 2004
Central London Congestion
Charging
David Hutchinson
GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY
What I will talk about today
• Background and context
• Operation of the scheme
• Projected impacts of the scheme
• Importance of monitoring
• Some early indicative results
• Issues we have had to overcome
Central London
• Greater London - largest urban area in Europe,
over 7 million population
• Central London - 1 million workers, heart of UK
business, government, media, heritage
• Suffered worst traffic congestion in the UK
– average traffic speeds 15km/hr
– vehicles typically spent half their time in queues
• Congestion was increasing, costing people and
business time and money
• General acceptance - ‘something had to be done’
Part of a wider strategy
• Congestion charging part of London-wide
Strategy - No.1 priority ‘tackling congestion’
• Integrated approach: public transport; parking &
loading enforcement; congestion charging
• Extensive public consultation over 18 months
• Public transport improvements in advance
• Associated traffic management
• Commitment to monitoring and adjustments
So how does congestion
charging work?
Paying the Charge
• Daily, weekly, monthly or annual payment,
for individual vehicle registration number
TT123
CBI
123
CBI
T 123
ABC
T 123
CBI
• Flat charge of £5 per day (Monday - Friday
7am - 6.30pm) for all vehicles
• Payment by post, telephone, internet, SMS,
or at self service machines, retail outlets and
some petrol stations
• Payment available up until midnight, but
charge rises to £10 after 10pm
Enforcement
• Vehicle registration numbers observed by fixed
and mobile cameras and compared with
payment database
• Cameras linked to automatic number plate
recognition technology
• If no record of payment by midnight, £80 penalty
charge sent to registered keeper of vehicle
• Vehicles of persistent evaders clamped and / or
removed
Camera enforcement
Colour
ColourContextual
ContextualImage
Image
Monochrome
MonochromeImage
Imagefrom
fromANPR
ANPRcamera
camera
Number
NumberPlate
Plateimage
imagefrom
fromANPR
ANPR
camera,
Lane
1
camera, Lane 1
Evidential
EvidentialRecord
RecordSummary
Summary
ANPR
ANPRsystem
systemoutput
output
Key Exemptions and
Discounts
•
•
•
•
Motorbikes/mopeds
Military vehicles
Emergency services
Taxis and licensed
minicabs
• Disabled persons
• Buses, coaches and
minibuses
• Certain alternative
fuel vehicles
• Breakdown &
recovery vehicles
• Certain health
service workers
• 90% discount for
residents of zone
Projected impacts
• Reduce traffic inside charging zone by 1015% and 2-3% in Inner London
• Cut traffic delays by 20-30% inside charging
zone and 5-10% outside
• Traffic speeds increase by 10-15% inside
charging zone and 2-4% immediately outside
• Help bus operations
• Improve journey times and reliability
• Net revenues of £130 million per year
Investing the revenue
– early years
• Improvements:
bus network, including night services
network accessibility
safety and security
for pedestrians and cyclists
interchanges
• Accelerating road and bridge maintenance
• Transport funding for local authorities
Investing the revenue
- long term
• Expanded Underground and rail capacity:
new services across and around London
• New river crossings of the River Thames
• Improved access to London’s town centres
• Tram or segregated bus schemes
• Selected improvements to London’s roads
Public Transport
Improvements
• Substantial enhancements to bus capacity:
- New routes
- Frequency increases on existing routes
- Introduction of larger buses
• New 24-hour services
• Bus fares frozen
• Better enforcement of bus lanes
• Better information & security
• Some improvements on Underground & Rail
Monitoring the impacts
• Comprehensive 5 year monitoring programme
• Traffic patterns and traffic conditions
• Public transport operations and passenger levels
• Social impacts, including vulnerable groups
• Business and economic effects
• Environmental impacts, particularly air quality
• Case studies
• Results published every year
• First Annual Report published 3 June 2003
Some early success
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
20% reduction in traffic entering the zone
Sample traffic reduction of 16% within the zone
No increase in traffic on Inner Ring Road
No significant change in traffic levels
outside the zone
Sample traffic speeds within the zone increased by
10-15%
Around 100,000 payments received each day
Public transport able to handle displaced car users
Bus patronage increased by 14% in peak hour
Traffic entering the congestion
charging zone
Flow on 16 High-flow Inbound Gateway Sites
during the Charging Hours (07:00 - 18:30)
160,000
Total Flow (vehicles excl 2-wheelers)
140,000
120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
03/02/03 10/02/03 17/02/03 24/02/03 03/03/03 10/03/03 17/03/03 24/03/03 31/03/03 07/04/03 14/04/03 21/04/03
Date
Traffic inside the congestion
charging zone
Date
24-Apr
22-Apr
18-Apr
16-Apr
14-Apr
10-Apr
08-Apr
04-Apr
02-Apr
31-Mar
27-Mar
25-Mar
21-Mar
19-Mar
17-Mar
13-Mar
11-Mar
07-Mar
05-Mar
03-Mar
27-Feb
25-Feb
21-Feb
19-Feb
17-Feb
13-Feb
11-Feb
07-Feb
05-Feb
03-Feb
Total Flow (Vehicles excl 2-wheelers)
Traffic on the Inner Ring Road
Flow on 12 One-way Inner Ring Road Sites
during the Charging Hours (07:00 - 18:30)
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
Bus delays due to traffic
congestion
% SCHEDULED KILOMETRES NOT OPERATED DUE TO TRAFFIC DELAYS
Monday-Friday
% kms not operated
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
Last year
1.5
This year
1.0
0.5
0.0
Charging Zone
Inner Ring Road
Bus speeds
BUS SPEEDS
Monday-Friday AM peak
16.0
14.0
Km/h
12.0
10.0
Last year
8.0
This year
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
Charging Zone
Inner Ring Road
Bus reliability
BUS SERVICE RELIABILITY
Excess Wait (minutes)
Monday-Friday 0730-1830
2.5
2.0
1.5
Last year
This year
1.0
0.5
0.0
Charging Zone
Inner Ring Road
Payment channels
• 100,000 payments received each day
• % split between all channels:
– Retail - 37%
– Web - 25%
– SMS - 18%
– Call Centre - 20%
(of which 6% using IVR)
Key issues we have
overcome
• Translating theory into practice in 33 months
• Presenting congestion charging to the public
• Creating the organisational arrangements
• Managing a complex project
• Improving public transport
• Managing traffic around the charging zone
• Public information
Further information
Transport for London
www.tfl.gov.uk
Main public website on congestion charging
www.cclondon.com/
Background papers
www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/cclondon/cc_intro.shtml