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Type of Scheme
- Area-wide congestion charging scheme whereby drivers pay to use the central zone of the city.
Date of Introduction
Background
- London was suffering from the worst traffic congestion in UK and amongst worst in Europe.
- Drivers were spending up to 50% of their time in queues of slow moving traffic and business was losing an estimated £2-4 million a week in terms of lost time caused by congestion.
- In 1999, national UK government legislated to give London a new, elected Mayor with powers to manage the city's transport system and raise taxes to fund transport improvements (Greater London Authority Act 1999).
- Ken Livingstone won with a platform that included plans to introduce congestion charging with revenues to be used to fund public transit improvements.
- It is the first major UK initiative to use cordon charging to reduce traffic congestion in an urban area. A small cordon charging scheme in Durham introduced in 2002 has produced a 90% drop in traffic.
Aims
- Primary aim is to reduce congestion.
- Secondary aims are to increase public transport use in the central area by 1-2% and to raise £1.3 billion over the first 10 years for re-investment in all forms of transport in London, including roads, buses, local streets and railways.
How it Works
Charges:
- Vehicles entering the central zone bounded by a cordon (Inner Ring Road) between 7am and 6.30pm, Monday to Friday must pay £8 a day for which they can enter and leave the zone any number times on the same day.
- The £8 charge can be paid either in advance or on day of travel. A higher charge of £10 must be paid if drivers choose to pay by midnight the following day.
- Failure to pay by midnight the following day of travel incurs a penalty of £80 - reduced to £40 if paid within 14 days.
- Payment can be made up to 90 days in advance.
- If you drive within the charging zone before receiving written confirmation of a payment, you must pay the £8 daily charge or incur a penalty charge.
- You can pay the congestion charge in the following ways:
- Online: using credit card or debit card via the Transport for London website www.cclondon.com.
- By telephone: pay by credit or debit card via the 24-hour Transport for London call centre on 0845 900 1234.
- In person: at any Pay Point displaying the congestion charge logo. There are about 200 Pay Points within the charging zone and 1220 within the M25, as well as at many petrol stations and shops. Payment can be made by cash, credit card, debit card or cheque. You can also pay at self-service machines at some car parks inside the charging zone, and at other selected locations.
- By post: only for weekly, monthly or yearly payments - by sending the completed form, "Paying the Congestion Charge" (download from www.cclondon.com or by phoning 0845 900 1234) with payment by cheque or postal order to: Congestion Charging, PO Box 2982, Coventry, CV7 8WR.
- Mobile phone text message: by registering for the SMS service at www.cclondon.com or by calling 0845 900 1234. You can then pay the charge on the day of your travel.
- BT Internet Kiosks: can pay with selected credit and debit cards, 24 hours a day, at all street level BT Internet kiosks within the charging zone.
- More information: visit www.cclondon.com or call 0845 900 1234.
Exemptions and Discounts:
- Discount of 90% is available to residents living in the zone.
- Vehicles on the 'automated fleet' scheme receive discount of £1 resulting in a lower daily charge of £7 per charging day.
- Discount is given for Monthly and Annual Congestion Charges.
- There is complete exemption for:
- Vehicles driven by or being used to carry disabled persons with Blue Badge.
- Vehicles used by certain NHS staff on journeys carrying bulky, heavy or fragile equipment, confidential patient notes, controlled drugs etc; and for NHS staff on-call for services in an emergency.
- Vehicles used by certain NHS patients attending hospital appointments; patients who have compromised immune systems; patients requiring regular therapy or assessment or recurrent surgical intervention; and where the patient is clinically assessed as too ill, weak or disabled to travel to an appointment on public transport.
- Vehicles used by firefighters for operational journeys between fire stations.
- Motorbikes and mopeds.
- Hackney carriages (black cabs).
- London licensed mini-cabs whose operator, driver and vehicle are all licensed.
- NHS vehicles that are exempt from vehicle excise duty.
- Vehicles used by disabled persons that are exempt from vehicle excise duty.
- Disabled passenger carrying vehicles that are exempt from vehicle excise duty (eg Dial-a-Ride vehicles).
- Buses and coaches with nine or more seats that are licensed in the 'bus class' with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
- Vehicles with nine or more seats that are not covered by the exemption above, eg community minibuses.
- Emergency Vehicles used by fire, police and ambulance services.
- Certain operational vehicles used by the eight local authorities within or partly within the charging zone, and the Royal Parks Agency.
- Vehicles used for lifeboat haulage and by HM Coastguard, and Port of London Authority vehicles in use attending emergencies on the River Thames.
- Military vehicles used by the armed forces.
- The cleanest alternative fuel vehicles (band 4 as defined by the Powershift Register, www.powershift.org.uk).
- Electrically propelled vehicles.
- Specially adapted recovery vehicles (eg those used by motoring organisations for breakdown removals).
- Breakdown vehicles in use to provide roadside assistance or recovery services operated by independently accredited organisations (eg AA, RAC, Green Flag).
Technology:
- Fixed and mobile CCTV cameras both around the boundary and within the charging zone identify vehicle registration numbers of cars in the zone between 7.00a.m. and 6.30p.m. and automatically check whether drivers have paid.
- This is made possible by the CCTV cameras providing high quality video-stream (analogue) signals to an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) computer system.
- Every single lane of traffic is monitored at exit and entry points.
- Images of number plates, belonging to those who have not paid to register by midnight on the same day are manually checked against DVLA databases for a penalty charge notice (PCN) to be issued.
Enforcement:
- Once a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) has been issued the owner is immediately fined £100.
- This will be reduced to £50 for prompt payment within 14 days.
- However, failure to pay within 28 days will result in the penalty being increased to £150.
- A civil penalty system, like that for de-criminalised parking, operates.
- Unpaid penalties are pursued through civil courts, with ultimate recourse to bailiffs if no payment is made.
- Attempts to tamper with number plates or vandalise/deface signs or camera equipment are criminal offences.
- A tamper-proof record of images is kept until penalties are paid, or the case closed. Transport for London (TfL) has powers to clamp or remove persistent evaders anywhere in Greater London - not just within the charging zone.
- Foreign vehicles are also monitored and checks made through links between TfL and similar agencies in other countries.
- Drivers of hired vehicles are liable to pay and hire companies are entitled to pass on driver details.
- CCTV monitoring is fully compliant with the Data Protection Act. Only in circumstances where number plates do not match database records, will images be retained for enforcement purposes.
Revenue
- The scheme generates net revenues of about £100 million - 80% of which is spent on improving bus services within London.
- Remaining revenue is spent on road safety, safer routes to school, walking & Cycling and freight and distribution.
- Projected net revenue for 2007/08 is £140 million - reflecting the rise in the level of the charge.
- Hypothecation of this revenue for transport has been extended until 2017.
Results
- Congestion inside the charging zone reduced by 30%.
- Traffic levels reduced by 18%.
- 30% reduction in number of cars and 65,000 fewer car movements.
- 20% increase in movements by buses coaches and taxis.
- Increase of 29,000 bus passengers entering zone during morning peak.
- Bus reliability and journey times improved - additional time passengers wait at bus stops caused by service delays or missing buses improved by 20% across all of London and by 30% in and around charging zone.
- Bus routes serving charging zone experience 60% less disruption due to traffic delay.
TfL estimate that the effects of the new £8 daily charge in place since July 2005 (previously £5) will be:
- Additional 3-5% decline in number of vehicle movements coming into the charging zone during charging hours.
- Most of the decline would be in movements by cars, with small decline in movements by commercial vehicles and probably small increase in movements by buses and taxis.
- Net effect on circulating traffic is to enhance the reduction in the level of circulating traffic, from 15% as experienced following the £5.00 charge to 17% to 21%.
- Across Inner London, traffic and congestion levels would reduce further, with congestion cut by an additional 1% to 3%.
Public Opinion
- TfL's surveys show over 80 percent of users surveyed are now satisfied with the service they get from the scheme administrators (Capita).
- 56% of Londoners overall think congestion charging has been effective.
Next Steps
- From September 2006, payments will be accepted until midnight on next charging day after vehicle has entered zone.
- Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone has approved plans to extend central Charging zone westward, to cover most of Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster.
- Extended zone will become operational on 19 February 2007.
- Extension provides opportunity for traffic reduction benefits of congestion charging to be spread more widely and include other parts of central London experiencing high levels of congestion throughout the working day. These benefits include lower congestion and traffic emissions, and significant improvements to bus reliability.
- The map (below) shows new enlarged congestion charging scheme. It is proposed that the western extension be broadly bounded by Harrow Road, Scrubs Lane, West Cross Route, the Earls Court one-way system and Chelsea Embankment.
- The charging hours will be 7am and 6.00pm, Monday to Friday and the same exemptions and discounts for residents living within the charging zone will apply.
- New technology (tag and beacon) is also being trialed to see whether the technology exists for allowing congestion charging to be extended out to the whole of London, not just the central area.
Websites
London Congestion Charging:
www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/congestioncharging/.
Transport for London:
www.tfl.gov.uk.
Western Extension:
www.london.gov.uk/mayor/congest/western-extension.jsp.
London Assembly:
www.london.gov.uk/approot/londonissues/transport.jsp.
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