£25/day to drive in London...

[recycled]

right i reckon if everyone starts to run, nike and adidas taxes might go up.
if you use a trainer weighing 221g or more £20.

 

[Sorry Pete]

He WANTS us to keep driving into London - which is why prices are pitched at a level that people can just about stretch too. Make it £100 instead of £25 and that would really sort out the men from the boys.

Actually, that would be a great little experiment that could probably oust the guy very quickly. EVERYONE on the buses, tube, rail, bikes, and leg-power; let's see how quickly the whole infrastructure breaks down.

 

[recycled]

very quickly.
but i would like downing street to take the lead first.

 

[verytalldave]

Actually, that would be a great little experiment that could probably oust the guy very quickly. EVERYONE on the buses, tube, rail, bikes, and leg-power; let's see how quickly the whole infrastructure breaks down.

An excellent idea - in theory.
Trouble is we all know that would never happen.
Unfortunately.
I am up for anything that would rid us of this blight once and for all.

 

[Carrotchomper]

no road tax and zero congestion charge. The range isn't great on electric cars but you can install a generator in the boot or on a trailer. As long as the diesel or petrol generator isn't directly driving the wheels but charging the batteries the vehicle is considered emission free .

I love the thought of this to annoy the lentilistas. Maybe a G-Wiz towing a trailer with a hulking big v8 generator on the back rumbling away....

Or a Prius towing a huge 4*4, hooked up to recharge its batteries!

 

[kikkthecat]

It looks like the BBC have finally twigged.

BBC News

A BMW X5 3.0d doesn't get caught by the price hike but a 2.0 litre Vauxhall Zafira does. So what's it really all about, congestion, pollution, taxation or just plain stupidity ?

 

[recycled]

There are more vauxhall zafiras than BMW x5 3.0d so more money for ken

 

[jeremytaylor]

I do believe that something has to be done about congestion on the roads of the UK in general. If hitting people's wallets is the only way of going about this, then so be it. It WILL be effective.

How about what governments SHOULD be doing - i.e. Predict and provide. In other words build more roads to suit demand, like they do in every other developed (and some undeveloped) country.

If there was a shortage of hospitals, schools, etc. would the government just tax us more to deter us from using them ? ... oh, hang on a minute, schools, hospitals, etc. are also underprovided.

So just what does the government do with our £billions of taxes????? It can't all be spent in Iraq, can it???

 

[jeremytaylor]

Getting really annoyed about the crass misreporting of by lazy journalists who parrot "4x4" and Gas Guzzler".

Me to. The radio last night, every station, were misreporting dreadfully.

 

[gbjeppm]

A number of petitions now appearing on the PM's website

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/LondonCharge/

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/chargelondon/

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/mpstopaytheirway/

I quite like the last one as it might have the biggest impact

 

[WLeg]

And the petition with the 3rd most "votes" is.........

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/PMClarkson/

Make Clarkson PM.....

 

[crockers]

A number of petitions now appearing on the PM's website

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/LondonCharge/

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/chargelondon/

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/mpstopaytheirway/

I quite like the last one as it might have the biggest impact

Do you really think that these petitions will make one iota of difference...They are just a fob to make the masses THINK they have a say. The only say you have is at the ballot box. Challenge your prospective MP next General election (oops forgot not allowed to ask questions in public or you get chucked out)...so much for free speech...well its niave of me to think there is any...

 

[gaz_l]

RE..POST 87, above........

Certainly an option worthy of consideration methinks...............I like the sound of that.
Trouble is, if we all did it, goalposts would be moved to suddenly include our "new" cars.

Now where did I put my specially modded C5?................

Wonder what happens when that hits 88MPH..

Doc Brown's trial run for the DeLorean

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[Sorry Pete]

Re: post 108

I can only comment on my own experience of living with the CC zone and London. Building more roads isn't an option here. Where the revenue gained from the motorist is going certainly isn't on the roads, but from what I can see, it is going on public transport, in London anyway.

Car ownership is increasing, so even with more roads, what happens when they become congested? Building new roads seems ambitious, especially when the standard of the roads as they currently stand is so poor.

Ahhhh, the motorist is a cash cow, people love their cars, this forum is testament to that. It takes a lot to get people to leave them at home.
Hitting us where it hurts might be the only way.

 

[Martin]

How about what governments SHOULD be doing - i.e. Predict and provide. In other words build more roads to suit demand, like they do in every other developed (and some undeveloped) country.

OK but at what point do we say enough is enough? Is it a case of most of us agreeing something needs to be done as long as it doesn't affect us personally during our lifetime?
I don't support Ken's politics in many other areas but I do think he is the only politician who has actually been brave enough to take action over London's transport problems rather than just talk about them for years.
Unfortunately if climate change is happening the majority of the world's population won't worry until the "tipping point" has happened for sure and therefore proved it............ by which time it will all be too little too late anyway.

 

[st13phil]

The best way to cure congestion in the south-east (because in reality that's the only place in the UK that it's a real problem) is to encourage employers to move out of the area to somewhere else in the country. Individual taxation on personal transport is a very blunt, regressionary, instrument that is largely ineffective in achieving such a shift and therefore has very little effect.

Taxing vehicle CO2 emissions is (no pun intended) a complete smokescreen. Just like the scheme that the GLC introduced many years ago to reduce the number of heavy lorries using London's roads because, apparently, they caused damage to the roads and adversely affected residents quality of life. Guess what? If the operator paid a tax for a permit all was OK and they could continue to drive on London's roads - presumably the permit tax made their vehicles weigh less and affect residents quality of life less? What hogwash. And the the Congestion Charge (or is it the Emissions Charge?) is just the same. No amount of green swaddling can hide the reality: it's idealogically driven social-engineering taxation of the worst and most sinister kind. Nothing more and nothing less.

 

[Mr E]

Hats off to BMW, Jaguar, etc, for producing large engines that meet these lower thresholds.

But you do have to say that it's slightly disingenuous of the BBC to report the cars it does as a whole group of "family" cars. The industry would include up to 2.0l in that group (so the Zafira drops into that group, granted) but the others?

 

[verytalldave]

The only REAL way to cure congestion is to disallow anybody to register a new car unless you scrap an existing registered car. Thats the only way to ensure the non-growth of cars on our roads. I cant see that being very popular with the car manufacturers, but I cant see any other way to curb the continual growth of car numbers.

 

[recycled]

the only way is to ban cars from going into london.
But there is no money to be made from that is there?
never mind that it will instantly eleiminate congestion in a day, what we have been trying to do for years.
Please no one should say it is not practical

 

[Alfie]

The only REAL way to cure congestion is to disallow anybody to register a new car unless you scrap an existing registered car. Thats the only way to ensure the non-growth of cars on our roads. I cant see that being very popular with the car manufacturers, but I cant see any other way to curb the continual growth of car numbers.

I can see a rise in the cost of cheap 'scrapable' cars if that happens.