London’s Congestion Charging – a Success Story
Congestion charging reduced London congestion. And revitalised public transport. So far the London experience with congestion charging are very positive
"We should have taken this step 40 years ago.” This is how Derek Turner sums up the preliminary experiences with Central London’s congestion charging scheme, which started operating in February. A former head of Transport for London, Turner was leading the introduction of the scheme, which had three major objectives: - To reduce traffic in Inner London by 10-15 percent(as during school holidays)
- To reduce delays in road transport by 15-20 percent
- To improve bus operations
Judged by the results after three months’ operations, it’s fair to say that London’s Charging Scheme has fully achieved its intended objectives: - Traffic in central London has decreased by 17 percent
- Number of bus passengers has increased by 14 percent
- Buses are, on average, going 20 percent faster
- Bus punctuality has improved significantly
- Number of motorbikes (exempted from the charge) has increased by about 20 percent
- There has so far been no dramatic increase in accidents, but this can come
- 100.000 payments a day, 40.000 pre-payments a day
Londoners have for many years been highly dissatisfied with the congestion of the city centre and the correspondingly low quality of public transport. Therefore, the proposed charging scheme had significant public support. However, few people actually believed it could be realized.
“It was a question of political will. All candidates who ran for Mayor in the municipal elections two years ago stated that they wanted to introduce the project sometime in the future. Only Ken Livingston, who ultimately was elected Mayor, promised to realize it within two years.” Derek Turner recalls. The realization of the Charging Scheme has taken approximately 230 million pounds in investments (mostly in IT, enforcement, 700 cameras and technology to read license plates). Derek Turner believes it was very fortunate that the implementation of the project was integrated between municipal authorities and private consultancies. This, he says, has secured both efficiency and public control.
Another important point is information. Even though there was strong public support for the project a major campaign was carried out, both via media and leaflets that were distributed to more than 3 million households. A combination of public support and extensive information explains why only 8.000 car-drivers weekly are fined for not paying the 5 pounds charge.
“We got the public on your side by presenting congestion charging as part of an overall transport strategy,” Derek Turner argues. “In addition, we demonstrated enthusiasm and high level of strategic thinking, that made an impossible project possible.”
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