Transcript Congestion Charging in London

PLANNING POLICY & MANAGEMENT
OF TRANSPORT AND URBAN
INFRASTRUCTURE
Congestion Charging in London
Prepared By:
1. Md. Shafiqul Islam
ID: 46852
2. Thudugalage Don Chaminda Pushpakumara
ID: 46866
3. Md. Kamrul Islam
ID: 46851
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Out Line of Presentation
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Fact Sheets (to some extent the background).
Key Aspects of Public Consultation.
What Congestion Charge is?
Why this Congestion Charge is introduced in London.
Benefits of Congestion Charge.
Some Key Findings.
Road Traffic Accident.
Cost-Benefit Assessment of transport impacts.
Revenues from the scheme.
How to Pay?
What happen if I forgot to Pay.
Public Information.
Conclusion.
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1. Fact Sheets
The Consultation Process
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The introduction of congestion charge scheme was a central point of
the Mayor’s manifesto for election.
Consultation on such a scheme started in July 2000 with the
publication of “Hearing London’s Views” and continued in January
2001 with the publication of the Mayor’s Draft Transport Strategy.
During preliminary consultation TfL consulted 130 key
stakeholders, including sending them a map of the proposed
charging zone. TfL also arranged a series of 14 consultation
meetings with groups of key stakeholders. 25 stakeholders sent
written responses to the preliminary consultation.
Formal consultation on the scheme order started on 23 July 2001,
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running for 10 weeks until 28 September.
2. Key Aspects of Public Consultation
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Notice of the public consultation published in the Evening
Standard and London Gazette.
6000 notices placed 250m apart on streets in and around
the inner Ring Road..
Producing and distributing an information pack to 500 key
stakeholders, MPs, business group representatives,
disability groups, all health authorities, motoring
organizations,
bus and train operators, religious
organizations.
Printing a 12-page public information leaflet on the
proposed scheme and distributing it, copies were also
available in large print, on tape and in eight languages
other than English.
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2. Key Aspects of Public Consultation
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Sending over 2,000 copies of the leaflet to members of the
public who requested further information after calling the
Freephone number set up to deal with enquiries. 2,500
people called the Freephone number in total.
Placing advertisements giving details of the scheme and
how to participate in the consultation exercise in 11
London newspapers and 11 London radio stations.
Placing documents about scheme in Town Halls or
Libraries of London.
Publishing details of scheme on TfL Street Management
website, which was visited by 11,000 people.
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Further consultation period on the proposed
modifications until 18th January 2002. This includes the
following:
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Contacting everyone who had responded to date with details of the
proposed amendments and inviting further comments.
Placing 6000 notices of the proposed modifications to the scheme
250m apart on streets in and around the charging zone. These
notices were checked weekly and replaced if damaged or missing.
Arranging meetings with key stakeholders to discuss specific points
raised.
The mayor spent over 20 months following his election consulting
on the details of the scheme, in order to meet the demands from
businesses, residents and a large number of other interested groups
and in February 2003 announced his decision to go ahead.
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3. What Congestion Charge Is?
Congestion charging is a way of ensuring that those
using valuable and congested road space make a
financial contribution.
Aims:
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To reduce traffic congestion in and around the charging
zone.
Journey times are quicker.
More reliable.
To encourage people to think again about using their
vehicles in central London and choose other forms of
transport if possible.
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The congestion charge was set for driving or parking a vehicle on a
public roads within the charging zone between 7.00 am to 6.30 pm,
Monday Friday, excluding weekends and public holidays. The central
London congestion charging zone covers 22 sq. km. in the heart of
London.
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4. Why this Congestion Charge is introduced in
London.
The following explains why the congestion charge is introduced in London.
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London suffers the worst traffic congestion in the UK and amongst the worst in
Europe.
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Drivers in central London spend 50% of their time in Jam.
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Every weekday morning, the equivalent of 25 busy motorway lanes of traffic tries
to enter the central London.
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It has been estimated that London loses between £2-4 million every week in terms
of lost time caused by congestion.
► Not surprisingly, Londoners say congestion is one of the biggest
issues facing the capital. Surveys have shown that Londoners do not
want to see congestion clogging up roads, threatening business,
damaging London’s status, nation’s economy and London’s
environment.
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5. Benefits of Congestion Charge.
It helps to
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Reduce congestion.
Further encourages the use of public transport in central London.
Benefits business efficiency by speeding up the movement of
goods and people.
Create a better environment for walking and cycling.
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6. Some Key Findings:
▆ Traffic reduced by 10-15%.
▆ Traffic speeds increased by 10-15%.
▆ Driver responses to charging appear to have settled.
▆ Drivers in the charging zone are spending less time in traffic zone.
▆ Congestion charging generated £ 68 million in the year 2003 for spending
on
transport improvement, and expecting £ 80 million to £ 100 million in the
future.
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Congestion levels within the charging zone during
charging hours
TfL expected a 20-30% reduction in congestion inside the charging
zone during charging hours, against a typical traffic delays of 2.3
minutes/km.
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Total traffic entering the charging zone during charging
hours
Cars, vans, lorries, the potentially chargeable vehicles
movement reduced by 26%.
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7. Road Traffic Accident
A reduction in road traffic accidents within the
charging zone has been recorded although it is too
early to draw firm conclusions from the limited
accident data that is so far available.
There has been around a 20% decrease in the
number of reported personal injury accidents
within charging hours. Compared to the same
period in 2002.
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8. Cost-Benefit Assessment of transport impacts.
Reduced traffic delays.
 Improved journey time reliability.
 Reduced waiting time at bus stops.
 Lower fuel consumption.
 Reduced accidents.
All above have economic values.
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9.
Revenues from the scheme.
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10. How to Pay?
You can pay the congestion charge either in
advance or on the day of travel before, during
or after the journey. The charge is £5 if you
pay by 10:00 pm on the day of travel. An
additional £5 surcharge will apply if you pay
from 10:00 pm until midnight on the day of
travel. This is to encourage early payment.
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11. What happen if I forgot to Pay.
At midnight, images of all of the vehicles that have been
in the congestion charging zone are checked against the
vehicle registration numbers of vehicles which have paid
their congestion charge for that day. The computer keeps
the registration numbers of the vehicles that should have
paid but not done so a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) will
be issued to the registered keeper of the vehicles of £80.
This is reduced to £40 for prompt payment within 14 days.
Failure to pay the penalty charge within 28 days results in
the penalty being increased to £120.
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12. Public Information.
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Around 50% of Londoners believe it is breaking the law if
the charge is not paid.
About 40% believe that people who avoid the congestion
charge are cheating Londoners out of improvements to
public transport.
Around 70% of charge payers say they have not
experienced problems with paying the charges.
The more changes in travel behavior are reported as:
change of mode, rerouting of around the charging zone,
traveling outside charging hours, traveling less frequently
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to the charging zone.
13. Conclusion.
Research undertaken by Transport for London has shown
that congestion charging will lead to reduce traffic levels
which are equivalent to those enjoyed during the school
holidays.
TfL is bringing in extra buses to the capital’s streets,
introducing more routes and improving the frequency and
reliability of other routes.
Although the scheme is good there need some more
continuous discussion. Some people are there who do not
want to travel by public transport but are not rich enough,
this is a problem for them. The traffic pressure will be
more outside the congestion zone. If new routes are
applied it will be a matter of huge invest. Over all these
things the scheme is appreciable.
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Thank you
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