Press Notices

09.06.05:
CfIT supports Government's show of leadership on road pricing

The Commission for Integrated Transport today welcomed the Secretary of State's decision to launch a national debate on the importance of introducing a national road pricing scheme to solve Britain's worsening congestion.

Today's announcement follows CfIT's own report published in 2002 which outlined proposals to change the way we pay for road use. CfIT suggested that reducing motoring taxes currently paid by drivers, and introducing a direct road user charge alongside would cut congestion by 44%. The Government's own recent work supports our earlier findings.

Acting Chair, David Leeder, said:

"When CfIT launched its own report three years ago, we called for a mature public debate on paying for road use. It is good news to see Government now showing leadership on road pricing and driving the debate forward.

Getting the public to understand that there is no other solution to our traffic problems is crucial. Building more and more roads to satisfy our appetite for mobility is simply not sustainable. Evidence shows that investment in public transport alone is not sufficient enough an incentive to encourage people to switch from using their cars.

We need to take an honest look at our levels of car use and reduce our dependency where possible. Charging for driving on the most congested roads will encourage people to consider whether their journey is really necessary or whether they could make the same journey at a different time of day or by public transport.

CfIT is continuing its research in to road pricing to complement the Government's own work. Some of the key areas to be explored are the revenues generated and what their best use may be, the relevance of road pricing to the climate change agenda, and the implications for subsidising other transport modes."

The Commission looks forward to the Secretary of State setting out his detailed work programme in his response to the Road Pricing Feasibility Study, which was published last July.

Notes to Editors:

• The UK suffers from the most congested roads in Europe [CfIT, 'European Best Practice In Delivering Integrated Transport' (2001)].
• Building more roads is not feasible, since the new road capacity simply fills up with more demand.
• CfIT believes the only long-term solution to combat worsening congestion is to charge for road use. As CfIT's 'World Cities' report shows, investment in public transport alone is not sufficient enough an incentive to encourage people to switch from using their cars.
• CfIT's report, 'Paying for Road Use' (2002), proposed a new way of paying for road use that would achieve a fairer and more efficient way to charge drivers.
• Our current system of charging for road use - motoring taxation - does not ensure that all road users currently pay the most appropriate amount. Some pay too much (for example rural motorists), while others pay too little (predominantly commuters travelling on heavily congested roads where public transport is available).
• The new system considered was a revenue-neutral, national road user charging scheme, which would see motoring taxes we currently pay (Vehicle Excise Duty and Fuel Duty) being reduced and a direct road user charge being introduced alongside.
• The scheme was shown to be able to cut congestion by 44%.

For more information, contact Katie Allister on 07811 277 223.