By silicon.com, 1 December 2006 16:40
Chris Rea's song Road to Hell was famously inspired by his experiences on the M25. But in the fifteen or so years since he wrote it congestion has gotten so much worse that the comparison doesn't quite hold anymore.
These days the M25 - and many other motorways - are worse than the road to Hell. After all, if you are on the road to Hell at least you might actually get there, whereas these days on the M25 you may well just give up and go home instead.
Few people would disagree that something needs to be done about road congestion. And building more roads is not a popular - or in many cases realistic option.
The main culprit in congestion is, of course, the daily commute, a practice bound to a strange, twentieth century idea of what the working day is about, and one that many workers and businesses are trying to shake off. After all, it's never been easier to work from home or on the move, so there's less and less reason to be clogging up roads at 8am.
The technology will soon be in place to allow the government to introduce - probably via satellite - different charges depending on when people use their cars.
This means gas-guzzling rush-hour roadhogs will get busted in the wallet for using up the limited road resources, while mid-morning country drivers get to pay less because they are using the roads less travelled.
So far so good. But any change to the way we pay for the use of roads must be matched with more investment in public transport - and perhaps tax cuts for people willing to work from home.
If drivers are being charged more to use the roads but given no chance to take a bus or train because they are already overcrowded or don't go to their destination, then they will - rightly - complain. As such the cash generated from such a road charge should be used to improve the UK's infrastructure, through better public transport and communications networks - like fibre to the door for every home, perhaps.
Before rushing headlong into the implementation of road-pricing technology, politicians need to act on the wider issues of transport policy, and not simply crack down on motorists without giving them an option to change their travel choices.
'No taxation without representation' was the cry leading up to the American Revolution. Soon perhaps you might hear Mondeo man shouting, 'No taxation without public transportion'.
Comments
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1. anonymous
If Road Charging is introduced it will mean that drivers will have to pay road tax plus congestion charges plus residents parking plus road charging. This really will be crippling to many ordinary people and is outrageous.
I would hope that drivers of all kinds of vehicles will say a BIG NO and protest. We all know drivers are a very soft touch for raising revenue.
2. anonymous
The way to fix the problem is to make ALL surface mass public transport (ie buses and trains) completely free to the user (in other words paid for by central taxation).
Only then can any form of anti-motoring taxation become viable.
The GLC proposed such a scheme many years ago for what was then London Transport, but chickened out at the last minute.
3. Amy Mathias
Leader - I have never agreed with you more. A lot of people could work effectively (arguably more effectively) at home, but employers need to be incentivised to implement this.
If road charging were introduced, my husband would no longer be able to afford to visit his office and therefore would join the other ranks of unemployed.
The government needs to try the carrot approach before using the stick.
4. Radical Meldrew
The £28bn revenue will be handy to pay for the proposed 66% MPs pay rise
5. Simon
Oh dear, it was going so well until "... gas-guzzling rush-hour roadhogs ..."
Err, what difference to congestions does the weight or driving system of a vehicle make ? My Land Rover would be included in that biased and gratuitously opiniated category yet actually covers less road area than that darling of the fleet manager - the Vauxhall Vectra.
But leaving such criticisms of journalistic integrity, the whole idea of congestion charging is build on bad foundations. Here are just a couple of reasons why the whole thing is bad :
1) It seems to be driven by people who assume that mass transit is available to everyone - ie everyone lives a copueple of minutes walk from their tube station. It can't be coming from people who actually have to travel to work outside of London - or at least who do so AND don't have their official driver to pick them up, drop them off, take the car away and park it for them until they are needed again etc.
2) It assumes that people CHOOSE to sit in traffic jams for hours a day. I think if you actually asked the people in the jams why they are there, I doubt if many will reply along the lines of "there's a nice train service that runs from near my house to near my office, and it's cheap, and clean, and spacious, and runs when my boss tells me I have to start and finish work - but I prefer sitting here breathing fumes from the lorry in front instead of having another half an hour in bed".
3) There is an assumption that making car use more expensive will somehow make other modes of transport appear out of nowhere, or make the need to travel disappear. The fact that statements are made like "... will raise £28bn ..." rather give the game away that this is seen as another way to milk the cash cow.
6. anonymous
Surely this is a ruse by businesses to shift the cost of congestion away from themselves & towards their employees. Just because charges are introduced doesn't mean that people will stop travelling at 8am (there's no public transport option for me & many others); result: commuters will be worse off & the treasury will be considerably fatter. This money can then be passed on to 'friendly' companies who support govt initiatives using the usual channels (PFI, tax breaks etc).
Cynical? Maybe, but based on 10 years observation
7. misceng
Even pensioners who do not commute will suffer. If I shop at Sainsbury I have a choice. Drive for 6 minutes and park free, shop then drive back to my front door. Future road and parking charges will not result in an increased pension. Or at age 78, I can use a bus free and spend nearly 2 hours on travel then have to lug my shopping about 600 metres to the bus stop then 400 metres from bus to home.
8. Bob
It's bad for non-drivers, too.
I don't drive - and the trains are crowded enough now, without forcing more people onto them by attempting to price driver's off the road.
Unless the public transport capacity is in-place right from the off, it is all just plain nonsense.
9. Ian Livermore
Its getting hard to justify why we live and work in Britain We are now being taxed at the highest rates in Europe both directly and indirectly. The honest worker is constantly being placed under presure to earn more just to pay the daily bills. I for one will give up and leave the UK if the charge per mile scheme for Cars comes in and will become a migrant worker in another country where I do not get pounded by the theiving government for everything I earn.
10. anonymous
It's so typical of government to use a stick to deal with a problem though. Make everyone pay for using roads that they already pay for (through local and central taxes). And already pay for use of by one of the highest fuel duties in Europe. And already pay for from time wasted sitting in jams caused by overrunning works and overloaded roads.
They are trying to force people out of cars onto public transport at the same time they are using above-inflation price rises to force people OFF the overloaded public transport systems. This is an example of thinking that is completely disjointed. Or maybe it's a way of getting more money for government instead of raising direct taxes?
Force people to be flexible in their workplace, force them to pay for the privilege of spending hours extra each day in pointless travel. You've been got, thoroughly and unavoidably.
The reality (as I see on a daily basis) is that public transport in London cannot cope with it's present usage levels and making it work would cost huge sums. It's not just a case of longer, more frequent trains because the station infrastructure can't cope with the throughput already when everything is running smoothly.
11. Anon
You say "... gas-guzzling rush-hour roadhogs ..."
Hmmmnn like those of us earning a living and also being Taxed for the priviledge. All our historic "industries" closed simply by becoming uneconomical when compared with others, how many other sources of employment and wealth generation will cease when we can't move from site to site. The problem is simple, we have allowed a huge increase in the number of vehicles and less of the 4x4 bit what about the 38 and above tonne trucks, and yet we have not increased the road space. Roundabouts designed to improve traffic flow now have Traffic Lights on! Hundreds of miles of good dual carriageway has been reduced to single lanes, and the cyclist who pays no road tax has had a massive increase in available space !! Coupled with the fact that there has been no noticable increase in capacity of Public Transport, its no wonder its time to say enough is enough.
We need a sensible unbiased review that actually tackles the problem not trys to hide it or force people out of their cars wether by cost or other means.
In the world of consumerisim you'd expect when you pay more for something you'd get great service, excellent products, and improved benefits, why does that not follow when your a motorist in the UK ?
12. Simon Allen
Before we start debating the political aspects, the tax implications and the crisis in public transport ...
Could someone try and convince me that an IT infrastructure of sensors, readers, revenue collectors, authentication methods, telecommunications and database integrity could handle all of this - RELIABLY??????
13. Steve Watkins
The real reason for so-called 'road charging (and what is fuel tax if not a road charge??) is to increase taxes so that they can be spent on inflated salaries and pensions for civil service jobsworths.
The real reason for road congestion in this country has nothing to do with the level of traffic or anything like that. it is wholly and completely due to the incompetence of the jobsworths who 'work' for the department of transport.
A couple of examples:
1) Driving along the A14 towards Cambridge from the M6 one encounters TWO large roundabout systems, one under the A1 and the next to continue along the A14. At the rush hour every morning and evening there is a queue of at least 1 mile at each roundabout .
2) When the Berkhamsted bypass was constructed a roundabout (surprise) was built at the southern end to join the M25. I pointed out to a jobsworth at the open session in 1986/87 that within six months this would cause a traffic jam. He denied it of course, and truth to tell, I was wrong. It was six weeks.
It will not do to claim that full motorway junctions would be enormously expensive: 45 THOUSAND MILLION POUNDS is fleeced from the motorist every year and barely 20% of that is spent on transport. Most of what IS spent is squandered on tax cameras to which MPs and policemen are immune.
It also will not do to say that such junctions will take up too much land; any one who has been to Germany will realise what a well-constructed junction can look like and how compact it can be.
Until the incompetent and stupid jobsworths in the DoT actually think and do their job properly, there will be nothing but congestion in this country.
14. anonymous
Weekend at Blackpool from - say Hythe - Taxi fly Taxi is cheaper than the train, and doesnt take all weekend travelling.
I already pay a milage charge including a Fuel consumption, and congestion weighting - It's called FUEL TAX
And now, congestion in London is to be reduced by encouraging people to use personal (single seater?) electric cars instead of having (say) an estate car for a family of 5 (and will the 3, 4, and 6 year olds be allowed to drive their electric cars on London roads.
Then again, if Electricity isn't causing pollution and adding to global warming, why does it cost so much
And - How much more energy, and pollution is caused creating an electric vehicle - judging by the prices it must be a substantial amount!
So - before imposing more biased taxes on the populace for trying to add to the economy - why not think about the consumer (aversion) impact of these taxation and other 'persuasive' measures.
I'm quite happy to drive the 7 ton lorry through villages if it will save me paying milage charges on motorways - I don't have to pay for the repair of these county roads and property adjacent to them.
(And - topical for today why isn't my pension linked to MP's pay and pension, so I will be able to pay all these additional charges imposed on me for daring to drive to the bank and get my pension.
Yes I know there is a bus service to the town, but having caught the one a day bus into town (in the afternoon), I'd have to stay in town overnight for the once a day return service (in the morning) .
15. anonymous
Weekend at Blackpool from - say Hythe - Taxi fly Taxi is cheaper than the train, and doesnt take all weekend travelling.
I already pay a milage charge including a Fuel consumption, and congestion weighting - It's called FUEL TAX
And now, congestion in London is to be reduced by encouraging people to use personal (single seater?) electric cars instead of having (say) an estate car for a family of 5 (and will the 3, 4, and 6 year olds be allowed to drive their electric cars on London roads.
Then again, if Electricity isn't causing pollution and adding to global warming, why does it cost so much
And - How much more energy, and pollution is caused creating an electric vehicle - judging by the prices it must be a substantial amount!
So - before imposing more biased taxes on the populace for trying to add to the economy - why not think about the consumer (aversion) impact of these taxation and other 'persuasive' measures.
I'm quite happy to drive the 7 ton lorry through villages if it will save me paying milage charges on motorways - I don't have to pay for the repair of these county roads and property adjacent to them.
(And - topical for today why isn't my pension linked to MP's pay and pension, so I will be able to pay all these additional charges imposed on me for daring to drive to the bank and get my pension.
Yes I know there is a bus service to the town, but having caught the one a day bus into town (in the afternoon), I'd have to stay in town overnight for the once a day return service (in the morning) .
16. Jeremy Wickins
It occurs to me that there is another possible undisclosed reason to this and other taxation - re-nationalisation. Control over gas and electricity supplies and public transport would make the government's job so much easier. Re-nationalising those key industries that Thatcher stole from the people would be unacceptable to many people now, but what about in a few years' time - look at Railtrack: create a crisis and then offer the "easy" solution!
The trouble is, I have no idea whether I think it is a good idea or not...