Congestion Charging in London Also by Martin Richards A DISAGGREGATE TRAVEL DEMAND MODEL (withMoshe Ben-Akiva) Congestion Charging in London The Policy and the Politics Martin G. Richards © Martin G. Richards 2006 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2006 978-1-4039-3240-2 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2006 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-51602-5 ISBN 978-0-230-51296-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230512962 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Richards, Martin G. (Martin Gomm) Congestion charging in London : the policy and the politics / Martin G. Richards. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Congestion pricing—England—London. 2. Traffic congestion—England—London. 3. Urban transportation policy—England—London. I. Title. HE336.C66R53 2005 388.4(cid:2)13142–dc22 2005047605 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 Contents List of Figures and Tables xi Preface xii Acknowledgements xiv List of Abbreviations xv 1 The Mayor’s Challenge 1 Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London 1 The Blair Government’s transport policy: The New Deal … for Everyone 2 Road user charging for London 2 A new source of revenue for the Mayor? 3 Completing the legal processes 4 Full steam ahead 6 Go live: 17 February 2003 6 The first 18 months 6 This book 7 2 Why Charge? 9 Introduction 9 Traffic flow 9 The economic rationale 11 The wider rationale 15 Equity 16 William Vickrey 17 Alan Walters 19 Milton Friedman 19 The Smeed Report 20 Gabriel Roth 20 Parking controls 21 National road pricing 21 Value pricing 23 Journey time reliability 23 A commentary 24 3 How to Charge? 27 Introduction 27 v vi Contents Some guiding principles 27 The charging bases 29 Paper licences 31 Virtual licences 32 Electronic tags 33 Global Navigation Satellite Systems 35 Enforcement: managing violations 37 Inter-operability 39 Payment arrangements and civil liberties 40 A commentary 41 4 Highways and Traffic Restraint in London before the Mayor 44 Introduction 44 Planning for new road networks 44 Better use of town roads 46 The Greater London Council Supplementary Licensing Scheme 47 Parking 48 The area control study 49 The London Assessment and other contemporaneous studies 50 The London Planning Advisory Committee 50 ‘A Cleaner, Faster London’ 52 The London Congestion Charging Research Programme 52 A commentary 57 5 Experience around the World 60 Introduction 60 The Singapore Area Licensing Scheme 60 Electronic Road Pricing in Singapore 62 Norway 65 Rome 67 CityLink, Melbourne, and Highway 407, Toronto 68 The USA: value pricing 68 Variable tolls, elsewhere 69 Europe: trucks 70 Australian parking place levies 72 Stockholm 73 Hong Kong 74 The Netherlands 77 A commentary 79 Contents vii 6 A New Beginning: The Blair Government, Congestion Charging and a Mayor for London 82 Introduction 82 The Ten-Year Plan for Transport 83 The Mayor of London, the Greater London Authority and the London Assembly 85 Road Charging Options for London, ROCOL 89 The Mayoral election 95 A commentary 96 7 The Formalities: The Mayor’s Transport Strategy for London and his Congestion Charging Scheme 99 Introduction 99 The formal enabling process 100 The first step, Hearing Londons’ Views 101 The Mayor’s draft Transport Strategy 103 Consulation on the draft Transport Strategy 104 The final Transport Strategy 106 The Scheme Order 107 A public inquiry? 109 Confirmation of the Scheme Order 110 The legal challenges 110 A commentary 112 8 The Mayor’s Congestion Charging Scheme 114 Introduction 114 The charged area and period 114 The charge and paying it 115 Exemptions and discounts 117 Automatic Number Plate Recognition 119 Penalties, representations and appeals 121 A commentary 123 9 Implementing the Mayor’s Congestion Charging Scheme 125 Introduction 125 Building the congestion charging team 125 Managing the project 127 The procurement strategy 128 Enforcement 130 Assessing the impacts 131 Traffic management 132 viii Contents Public transport 133 Communications 135 Finances 136 The application of net revenues 139 The Audit Commission 140 A commentary 140 10 The London Assembly: Scrutinizing the Scheme 147 Introduction 143 The Assembly’s congestion charging scrutiny, 2000 143 The Mayor’s response 148 The project budget and plan 149 The on-going scrutiny 149 Monitoring the charge impacts 151 The public concerns behind the politics 152 The Capita contract 152 A commentary 156 11 The Critics, Doubters, Fence Sitters and Supporters 159 Introduction 159 Government and Parliament 159 The London Assembly 163 The London boroughs 164 The business sector 165 Transport user and environmental groups 168 Charities 170 The World Wide Web 170 The people 171 The press 172 A commentary 175 12 The First Year 179 Introduction 179 The economic background 180 The early days 181 The first year’s traffic 183 Congestion 186 Bus and rail 188 Taxis 191 Cyclists and pedestrians 191 People with disabilities 192 Low income groups 192 Contents ix Travel behaviour overall 193 Attitudes to congestion charging 194 The emergency services 196 Road safety 196 The environment 197 Parking 197 Business and the economy 199 Scheme management 206 Revenues 213 Net costs and benefits 214 A commentary 216 13 Some Lessons Learned 221 Introduction 221 Foresight 221 Leadership and courage 221 Stability 222 Decisive and speedy action 223 A balanced package 223 A robust scheme 223 Sound research and analysis 224 A good legal framework 225 A single authority 225 Cooperation 226 Adequate funding 226 Pragmatism 226 Technical competence 227 Project management 227 Obtaining and retaining broad support 227 Congestion charging is NOT a licence to print money 228 The use of revenues 229 Enforcement 230 A commentary 230 14 The Future 232 Introduction 232 The 2004 Mayoral election 232 Extending the scheme 234 Technology 239 Charges, and paying them 240 Other UK cities 243