Congestion charge may rise to ?8

[Ian (GPX)]

London's congestion charge should be increased to £8, Mayor Ken Livingstone has proposed.
Mr Livingstone has asked Transport for London (TfL) to begin consulting on a £3 increase for a private car to enter the central zone.

He added the earliest the proposed change could be introduced would be July next year.

But he said he wanted the charge for "commercial fleet vehicles" to rise to just £7.

Mr Livingstone said: "The congestion charge has been an unprecedented success in dramatically reducing congestion, pollution and accidents.


More here >> https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4054711.stm

[mchaggis]

Bikes don't pay the congestion charge, do they? It can only be a good thing for motorcyclists IMO if they have to watch out for more motorcycles rather than half asleep car drivers who have switched off due the boredom of crawling along in rush hour traffic.
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I must not be a troll...
Mmmm, Guinness
Discovering the delights of Hammerite and a 3/4" brush.

[tgabber]

Correct, bikes don't pay the charge.

It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to think of the poor old cagers having to cough up more...
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"It's all about dislocating expectation"
Kawasaki KMX125 -> Aprilia RS125 -> Kawasaki ZZR600

[Korn]

... until he starts charging bikes.
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3516 Miles, 11 Countries

[Sparks!]

Don't get too smug, it won't be long before bikes have to pay congestion fees too, when everyone can't afford to drive their cars to London, so they all buy scooters then scooters will clog the roads and then they will put in scooter congestion fees to cut the traffic down so everyone will be forced to buy push bikes, at which point the roads will be clogged with push bikes so they will introduce a push bike congestion charge which of course no one will afford so everyone will have to walk....

...until of course the roads are clogged with pedestrians clogging up Londons roads so they'll bring in a walking congestion charge, probably something like £0.50p a step and they will have stealth speed cameras that charge you £50 quid if you walk over 5.6mph and of course new technology to improve pedestrian flow which will also charge you £50 if you walk slower than 2mph.... of course no one will afford this so they will get jobs out of London, London will become a ghost town home only to a few vigilante skateboarders who refuse to pay the fees so get chased around by special police squads in riot gear fighting non-paying congestion charge criminals!

Everyone will move to surrounding areas until the same happens there then we'll all move to France, which would technically be a good idea but if we go, everyone goes then there will be speed cameras on every corner and congestion charges all over france and europe, soon we'll have to pay "air bills" to breath and have to buy keycard top ups else we'll run out of air and die.

Eventually one day the good old timers who liked things the way they were will revolt and over-come the government and explode all speed cameras and abolish all congestion fees, which would be good but it will send the world into one massive riot and everyone would kill each other.

The end
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Current Toys: 06 Yamaha WR250F | Nissan 350Z GT | Tech 4 Homes

[Harold_Shand]

I hate him. I hate his horrible smugness and his horrible nasally way of talking. Agh! What a wanker!

[NickD]

One of the major factors in bikes being exempt from charging was heavy duty lobbying by MAG and the BMF. How many people here are members of either? If the figure is as low as I think it is, please let's not start whining when charges for bikes are introduced.
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I was only doing what it said on my licence officer....
Tear along the dotted line!

[Kickstart]

Hi

I suspect that given a few years bikes will be hit for the congenstion charge. While a raised charge may help those in the centre it will just further increase traffic around the outskirts of the zone.

The kengestion charge is just a tax, and I cannot vote for or against Ken "I don't have a car but spend thousands of pounds of taxpayers money on taxis each year" Livingstone. No taxation without representation .

I am not keen on London at all and generally avoid going there. The charge is just another reason on the list for avoiding the place.

Main thing it has been a success at is reducing the takings of the shops inside the charged zone.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Bendy]

And because I don't live in London any more, just work there 5 days a week, I don't have a vote to try and get rid of the wanker.

[zx636]

I live in London and i didnt vote for the Wan..r.

Come on, Be honest, what a fucking pillock. Any school kid can work out that if you place a charge to reduce the number of things you are charging for then the income will go down and costs will have to increase. does he honestly think we are all as thick as he is.

Mr Livingstone, give me a call and I'll explain elementary mathematics to you and that way you can keep an accurate count of your newts. Best you keep to what you know.

[Irezumi aka Reuben]

How do bikes cause congestion? You can fit almost 6 into the same space as one car.......

If he charges out as far as SE London im gonna start blowing things up, might cause confuse him on the math's front more though, ho-hum.

zx636 better get the chalk board and cane out
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Pictorgraphicalfantastical

[zx636]

We seem to fall for the same tricks over and over again.

With the congestions charge, if it works like they want then the costs of maintaining the system will always increase while the revenue will decrease without increasing the charge. Its really just another indirect tax under the guise of traffic control. If they really want to keep the traffic moving then the better idea would be to reduce the number of buses clogging up the roads. Take a drive down Oxford Street or Regent Street, full of buses which are far too large for the streets and now they introduce bendy buses which struggle to get round some of the corners. Bus lanes which the buses rarely use because they are always trying to overtake one another blocking all the lanes.
Another option would be to ban cars altogether from certain roads during certain times but they wont do that because they get no revenue.

[Kickstart]

[Harold_Shand]

A long, long time ago I saw something on telly about portugal or some other wop country where a car had a permit for a few days a week, on the days where you weren't allowed in the town centre you buddy up with someone from work or whatever who can. Or something. Forced car share. Could possibly cut traffic by 2/3. Don't know whether it worked or not.

[zx636]

Harold.
They do that in Japan. Depending on Car Reg No decides on what days of the week you can drive. Hence two car Japanese families.

Keith.
I think you are right, in moving traffic there is no difference in the space a car uses as opposed to a bike. God help us if Ken ever works that one out.

[Korn]

[zaknafien]

[Kickstart]

[headlamp]

[Bendy]

So many people have jobs that they could do from home, maybe not every day, but perhaps a couple of days a week. Let them stay at home and they're not travelling into town - less congestion.

[headlamp]

Apparently there are other people fed up with the state of the transport system in London https://www.busandtube.co.uk/main.htm

I don't see this working somehow!
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Using a mobile phone while driving a car should be made a capital offence!

[mchaggis]

On a slightly connected note:
Exam board offers qualification in wheel clamping


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I must not be a troll...
Mmmm, Guinness
Discovering the delights of Hammerite and a 3/4" brush.

[Danny]

[mattsmith95]

Remember the poll tax riots?? Oh yeah most of you were still in
nappies. Well anyway that's nothing compared to what will happen
if bikes have to pay CC.

It will be war

Personally All off roaders (4x4) should be banned from London,
that will be wonderful, would ease congestion.


And they wish to host the olympics in London, well, fat chance!

[zaknafien]