Has Sadiq gone completely bonkers??

[GroundAlmonds]

How exactly does this make sense?

He wants non-Londoners (drivers) to pay a charge to enter Greater London, because...oh it’s complicated. I’ll link.

He does realise that Londoners drive out of London to wear out non-London roads too, though, right? It’s literally two way traffic.

Well not surprising since all the VED paid for by London drivers goes to fix roads outside of London, where should the money come from to fix London's roads then?

Rather than charge non-londers £3.50, just give the VED back to be spent in London.

Tfl had to beg for months for funding that nowhere near covers what is needed. All the while being made to run full services to ‘maintain social distancing’

This.

For approx £30 a year, I can rent a mail forwarding address in London, register my vehicle to that, and avoid the daily charge. It would be worth it if I was making daily trips into London.

During the first lockdown there were around 3-4 weeks of reduced services on the tubes before the pre covid timetable was reintroduced, with a few gaps due to staff sickness and isolations. Since then the full timetable has been running. Even into the evening when there was virtually nobody using them. The point I’m making about the fares and salaries is that no matter who was in charge, there would be the same problem. Boris wasted vast sums of money of his vanity projects and khan has spent his term reducing that defect and it was working, slowly, but working. As with any big organisation there is a lot of waste, but this was being dealt with, even the report says that another 700 million of savings was set to be implemented before Covid took off and decimated passenger numbers and therefore income. The report has suggested a 25% increase in central London fares is appropriate. Who is going to be hit by this most? The same people I saw every evening during lockdown travelling back to their east London homes after a days work. These same east London homes which now fall within the proposed new congestion charge area or this new within the m25 charge area. I can afford to pay the £3.50 per day to get to work (I work evening shifts until 2am and would need two night busses and an hour to get home without my car) but lots affected won’t be able to absorb this cost, plus the proposed council tax rise.

Why is only East London going to be affected the most?

The new congestion zone is going all around. Millions will be hit in the pockets by it. And it's all because of TFL's mismanagement and waste.

I make the east London point because it’s where most of the lower paid workers live, due to the lower property prices.

He's got a strangle hold on the city. Many people with Lower incomes won't be able to access London now.

He's killing the West End with his stupid charges, only to score political points.

Also, low paid workers live everywhere, not just the East and everybody will be hit the same.

But why would they care, those on the incomes TFL pays.

Most journeys across London are quicker by bus than by tube.

You’re joking? Quite the opposite.

I thought it was well established that the buses have a slightly poorer clientele than the tube, too? Bus fares are much cheaper.

My experience is that bus is often quicker than tube. Indeed the same is true of cycling and, at times, walking. (It really is worth checking journey time n Google maps - default assumptions about car and tube are not necessarily correct.)

The point is that congestion charge has made a big difference. People are willing to consider different ways of travelling if streets are not clogged with traffic. If congestion charge is expanded people living further away from the centre might find the same.

@GroundAlmonds

Most journeys across London are quicker by bus than by tube.

You’re joking? Quite the opposite.

I thought it was well established that the buses have a slightly poorer clientele than the tube, too? Bus fares are much cheaper.

That’s me you’re quoting and although no I wasn’t joking, I was making a typo. Oops. I meant the other way round - most journeys across London are quicker by TUBE than by bus.

@Needmoresleep

My experience is that bus is often quicker than tube. Indeed the same is true of cycling and, at times, walking. (It really is worth checking journey time n Google maps - default assumptions about car and tube are not necessarily correct.)

The point is that congestion charge has made a big difference. People are willing to consider different ways of travelling if streets are not clogged with traffic. If congestion charge is expanded people living further away from the centre might find the same.

Your experience must be quite limited then. And what you’re saying about checking times in Google maps is a little bit patronising. You think those of us who travel in and around London don’t know to check by Google maps or the tfl app or Citymapper or all three?! Even with the congestion charge London buses still get regularly stuck in traffic.

I’m interested though in how else you define “real” Londoners. Because if it’s being born and bred then most of those including myself tube it more than bus it. By necessity. Got to get to work in time. Being close to a tube station is a selling point and adds value to a property.

I'd rather have full smart road charging where the amount you were charged varied depending on time of day and the type and weight of vehicle you were driving. So someone driving a massive SUV at rush hour paid a lot more than someone driving a small electric car at 2am.

But this charge is a start so I support it and hope it gets more sophisticated over time.

There's way too many cars doing stupid journeys. Pollution is crazy. Isn't this what the rest of Europe is doing? Bring it on. But invest in public transport too.