[Gllug] [OT] Times Article on ABD was Fighting a virus

[John G Walker]

On Mon, 19 Feb 2007 00:02:13 +0000 Christopher Hunter
<chrisehunter at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

> There is no simple, easy solution to the congestion problems.
> London's experiment with Congestion Charging doesn't work (and cannot
> work). Despite Livingstone's bluster to the contrary and the
> manipulated statistics, the London CC zone has failed abysmally in
> every way, and is losing money.  (If is was truly successful, the
> revenue collected would be vanishingly small, so the entire project
> is self-defeating!)

I'm not sure why you think reducing revenue is self-defeating in this
case. The purpose of the congestion charge is to reduce pollution in
central London, and this it has done (or so my lungs tell me). It's got
nothing to do with revenue.

There are problems with it. For example, a friend whose a manual
worker was complaining to me yesterday about the extension. He has to
visit various sites in central London as part of his job. He gets the
congestion charge paid as expenses by his employer, but he still has to
fork out eight quid up front to go to where he's been sent. He'd
welcome a system whereby his employer paid directly.

But London is a special case, particularly since the introduction of
the congestion charge has gone along with improvements in public
transport. I really don't see that happening elsewhere,

-- 
 All the best,
 John
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