01 March 2002
Major urban centres looking into similar schemes include Bristol, Edinburgh and Leeds.
A spokesman for Bristol City Council said it would consider congestion charging. But he emphasised that it would be 'part of an integrated transport policy' and would not be introduced until public transport had provided a viable alternative to the car.
Leeds City Council said much the same and added that it would be 2007/08 before the scheme would effectively be looked into.
It is clear that a lot is riding on the implementation of the scheme in the capital, scheduled for next February – not just in the UK but elsewhere in Europe.
Paris, under progressive mayor Bertrand Delanoe, is already watching closely to see if congestion charging proves successful in London.
Launching the scheme, Livingstone said the £5 daily toll for car users in the centre of the capital would reduce congestion by up to 15%. The mayor hopes it will raise £150m a year in extra revenue. Every penny of this would be reinvested in public transport, he said.
Stephen Joseph, director of Transport 2000, a transport lobby group, said congestion charging was the best transport news for the capital since the opening of London Underground in the nineteenth century.
He added that it would also be good news for business. 'Traffic congestion places an enormous and unnecessary burden on London businesses,' he said.
However, Richard Morse, chair of the policy unit of the Federation of Small Businesses, contended that the charge amounted to an annual £1,200 poll tax on companies.
The mayor's announcement came in the same week as the government's Commission for Integrated Transport advocated charging on the country's busiest roads.
PFmar2002
