Congestion charge going up?

Hi,

I heard from someone the other day that the congestion charge is set to go up again. Does anyone know how much it's going up to and when it'll kick in?

cheers all,
The Mog

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Hello,

The congestion charge is set to go up to £8 from £5. This increase will be applied from 4th July 2005.

We covered the story in our news section here http://www.allinlondon.co.uk/news/index.php?news_id=199

All the best,
All In London Team

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Isn't that what they were saying when it was introduced? If anything's going to be the death of small business in London it's the bloody supermarkets.

The congestion charge works, traffic levels are down, get over it or get the bus.

Mahoney

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The congestion charge has been a stunning success. But if we are to retain and enhance the advantages of reduced congestion and pollution in London, it is probably the case that the charge needs to be raised a bit.

After all, £5 is a very small charge, especially when one compares it with what the average person or business spends or earns in London.

If an increase of a couple of £ is going to bankrupt small business, they must be small indeed! Surely small business should welcome less congestion, which can only help them prosper

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I disagree.

My son used to got to a nursery in Islington, which was the only nursery that opened before 6am as i had to start work at 5.50am in Hammersmith. We didn't mind driving all that way because it meant that i could still go to work.

Once the congestion charge came in i had to give up work because an extra £25 p/w was just too much for us.

There was no way that i could have got on a bus/train with a 1yr old baby at 5am in the morning.

I think its unfair for them to increase the congestion charge to £8

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I'm just curious, how long is it before Londoners stop complaining about the congestion charge. Is it possible that we would eventually begin to accept the charge, budget for it and ignore it, continuing with our daily lives paying for it as if it was the bus fare. It happened with the rise in phone box prices as well as the rise in train and bus fares. In general we have an issue with change then we slowly but surely accept it as the few inevitabilities of life. In the long run, I only see this as a tax which government have managed to slip in under the guise of reduction in congestion, because lets face it, on one likes change in the beginning.....

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I don't think people would still moan about it if it was still £5.

The hike to £8 and now the expansion of the zone into K&C means that people haven't had the chance to get used to it. When people get used to idea of the new zone and the Chelsea tractor gang have had their rants the next step will be £10.

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True, I think that if they really want us to consider alternative means of transport more active steps should be taken to ween people off of private cars, such as subsidising public transport and doing more to ensure that cycle lanes are actually useable

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Yep.

London cycle lanes are a joke, I'd rather ride my bike on the M4 than into central London at peak times.

Ken isn't helping the situation at all by constantly hiking fares. I hate having to pay £1.20 for a single bus fare now. £1 was a nice easy rounded fare which you ofter would have to hand, now I'm constantly going into shops to break notes to use the bloody ticket machines

Still, in a few years I'll no doubt move away to somewhere like Kent where I can have nothing to do with London

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You are right that fares are too expensive and this is one reason why there is less use of public transport than one would like.

But I must comment on the £1.20 bus fare. I use a pre-pay Oystercard and the bus fare in outer London is 80p instead of £1.00 cash. If I have already spend the equivalent of a daily Travelcard, say by going to central London, the bus journey costs nothing. I you are over 60 it also costs nothing, I believe.

So not all bad!

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