Congestion charging coming to West London
Mayor
reveals that next step for the charge is to move west with Shepherds
Bush and Hammersmith being seen as the new boundary
Plans
to extend the Congestion Charging Zone further into West London are
being considered by Ken Livingstone. Following what the mayoral office
believes was a relatively smooth introduction of the scheme last Monday,
discussions are already underway for a substantial extension that
could affect Acton, Chiswick, Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush, areas
where residents are already concerned about traffic issues relating
to the introduction of trams.
The
plans, which Ken Livingstone intends to make a key part of his mayoral
election campaign next year, has provoked concern from some local
retailers who feel they would be adversely affected by having fewer
motorists in their areas, as well as by higher costs if delivery
firms pass on the £5-a-day charge.
An
additional zone around Heathrow airport has also been suggested,
a move that has been welcomed by Ruth Cadbury, LBH�s spokesperson
for Transport Issues, she reportedly said "The traffic and
air pollution in this area is already bad and over the next five
years it is going to get worse because there are no proposals for
public transport improvement. Consequently, we would be prepared
to consider a congestion charging scheme for Heathrow" She
believes local knock on effects of the Charge could be kept to a
minimum.
Controlled
Parking Zones around Osterley and Acton Town stations are in the
process of being implemented and have been specifically timed to
coincide with the implementation of the charge. They are intended
to deter an increase of commuters from leaving their cars in nearby
residential roads and catching the train. A CPZ was also suggested
around Chiswick Station but local residents rejected the idea as
parking in this area has not generally been a problem.
When
speaking about the scheme implemented last week, London�s Transport
Commissioner Bob Kiley said: �More than one million people come
into central London every morning and the overwhelming majority
use public transport to do so. It is TfL�s job to make those journeys
as reliable, attractive and safe as we can - for example we have
put an extra 300 buses on London�s streets in the last year alone.
All Londoners will benefit from the £2.5m we will raise every
week from the congestion charge to improve transport in London.�
But this new scheme raises a multitude of �local� issues for residents,
CPZs and public transport amongst them. According to figures issued
by Traffic Master, it appears that commuters living in the West
and South West are the ones most affected. Car journey times into
Central London from these areas were up compared to the same period
last year however journey times from the North, East and South all
fell.
It seems that commuters are either driving around or stopping outside
the zone and taking public transport. This has meant that vehicle
traffic, both private and public, outside the zone has been badly
affected and an increase in journey times and sheer weight of traffic
has increased.
The
scheme means even more commuters traveling to work on public transport.
NOP surveyed 900 motorists found that 22% of them were planning
to switch to public transport when the scheme started. A switch
on this scale means at least 9,000 more commuters catching public
transport than has been anticipated by TfL. Almost 40% of those
switching to public transport said that they will catch the Tube,
24% trains and 14% buses.
If the zone was extended, some local residents fear that extra traffic
would be right here on our doorstep with the only upside being a
90% reduction from the £5 for residents living within the
zone.
February
25, 2003
Where
will the traffic go when Acton High Street closes
More
details on new Crossrail plans for West London
Mayor
Says Yes to West London tram scheme
|