PLANNING POLICY & MANAGEMENT OF TRANSPORT AND URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE

1. PLANNING POLICY & MANAGEMENT OF TRANSPORT AND URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE Congestion Charging in London Prepared By: 1. Md. Shafiqul Islam ID: 46852 2. Thudugalage Don Chaminda Pushpakumara ID: 46866 3. Md. Kamrul Islam ID: 46851

2. Out Line of Presentation • Fact Sheets (to some extent the background). • Key Aspects of Public Consultation. • What Congestion Charge is? • Why this Congestion Charge is introduced in London. • Benefits of Congestion Charge. • Some Key Findings. • Road Traffic Accident. • Cost-Benefit Assessment of transport impacts. • Revenues from the scheme. • How to Pay? • What happen if I forgot to Pay. • Public Information. • Conclusion.

3. 1. Fact Sheets The Consultation Process • The introduction of congestion charge scheme was a central point of the Mayor’s manifesto for election. • Consultation on such a scheme started in July 2000 with the publication of “Hearing London’s Views” and continued in January 2001 with the publication of the Mayor’s Draft Transport Strategy. • During preliminary consultation TfL consulted 130 key stakeholders, including sending them a map of the proposed charging zone. TfL also arranged a series of 14 consultation meetings with groups of key stakeholders. 25 stakeholders sent written responses to the preliminary consultation. • Formal consultation on the scheme order started on 23 July 2001, running for 10 weeks until 28 September.

4. 2. Key Aspects of Public Consultation • Notice of the public consultation published in the Evening Standard and London Gazette. • 6000 notices placed 250m apart on streets in and around the inner Ring Road.. • Producing and distributing an information pack to 500 key stakeholders, MPs, business group representatives, disability groups, all health authorities, motoring organizations, bus and train operators, religious organizations. • Printing a 12-page public information leaflet on the proposed scheme and distributing it, copies were also available in large print, on tape and in eight languages other than English.

5. 2. Key Aspects of Public Consultation • Sending over 2,000 copies of the leaflet to members of the public who requested further information after calling the Freephone number set up to deal with enquiries. 2,500 people called the Freephone number in total. • Placing advertisements giving details of the scheme and how to participate in the consultation exercise in 11 London newspapers and 11 London radio stations. • Placing documents about scheme in Town Halls or Libraries of London. • Publishing details of scheme on TfL Street Management website, which was visited by 11,000 people.

6. Further consultation period on the proposed modifications until 18th January 2002. This includes the following: • Contacting everyone who had responded to date with details of the proposed amendments and inviting further comments. • Placing 6000 notices of the proposed modifications to the scheme 250m apart on streets in and around the charging zone. These notices were checked weekly and replaced if damaged or missing. • Arranging meetings with key stakeholders to discuss specific points raised. The mayor spent over 20 months following his election consulting on the details of the scheme, in order to meet the demands from businesses, residents and a large number of other interested groups and in February 2003 announced his decision to go ahead.

7. 3. What Congestion Charge Is? Congestion charging is a way of ensuring that those using valuable and congested road space make a financial contribution. Aims: • To reduce traffic congestion in and around the charging zone. • Journey times are quicker. • More reliable. • To encourage people to think again about using their vehicles in central London and choose other forms of transport if possible.

8. The congestion charge was set for driving or parking a vehicle on a public roads within the charging zone between 7.00 am to 6.30 pm, Monday Friday, excluding weekends and public holidays. The central London congestion charging zone covers 22 sq. km. in the heart of London.

9. 4. Why this Congestion Charge is introduced in London. The following explains why the congestion charge is introduced in London. • London suffers the worst traffic congestion in the UK and amongst the worst in Europe. • Drivers in central London spend 50% of their time in Jam. • Every weekday morning, the equivalent of 25 busy motorway lanes of traffic tries to enter the central London. • It has been estimated that London loses between £2-4 million every week in terms of lost time caused by congestion. ►Not surprisingly, Londoners say congestion is one of the biggest issues facing the capital. Surveys have shown that Londoners do not want to see congestion clogging up roads, threatening business, damaging London’s status, nation’s economy and London’s environment.

10. 5. Benefits of Congestion Charge. It helps to • Reduce congestion. • Further encourages the use of public transport in central London. • Benefits business efficiency by speeding up the movement of goods and people. • Create a better environment for walking and cycling.

11. 6. Some Key Findings: ▆ Traffic reduced by 10-15%. ▆ Traffic speeds increased by 10-15%. ▆ Driver responses to charging appear to have settled. ▆ Drivers in the charging zone are spending less time in traffic zone. ▆ Congestion charging generated £68 million in the year 2003 for spending on transport improvement, and expecting £80 million to £100 million in the future.

12. Congestion levels within the charging zone during charging hoursTfL expected a 20-30% reduction in congestion inside the charging zone during charging hours, against a typical traffic delays of 2.3 minutes/km.

13. Total traffic entering the charging zone during charging hoursCars, vans, lorries, the potentially chargeable vehicles movement reduced by 26%.

14. 7. Road Traffic Accident A reduction in road traffic accidents within the charging zone has been recorded although it is too early to draw firm conclusions from the limited accident data that is so far available. There has been around a 20% decrease in the number of reported personal injury accidents within charging hours. Compared to the same period in 2002.

15. 8. Cost-Benefit Assessment of transport impacts. • Reduced traffic delays. • Improved journey time reliability. • Reduced waiting time at bus stops. • Lower fuel consumption. • Reduced accidents. All above have economic values.

16. 9. Revenues from the scheme.

17. 10. How to Pay? You can pay the congestion charge either in advance or on the day of travel before, during or after the journey. The charge is £5 if you pay by 10:00 pm on the day of travel. An additional £5 surcharge will apply if you pay from 10:00 pm until midnight on the day of travel. This is to encourage early payment.

18. 11. What happen if I forgot to Pay. At midnight, images of all of the vehicles that have been in the congestion charging zone are checked against the vehicle registration numbers of vehicles which have paid their congestion charge for that day. The computer keeps the registration numbers of the vehicles that should have paid but not done so a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) will be issued to the registered keeper of the vehicles of £80. This is reduced to £40 for prompt payment within 14 days. Failure to pay the penalty charge within 28 days results in the penalty being increased to £120.

19. 12. Public Information. • Around 50% of Londoners believe it is breaking the law if the charge is not paid. • About 40% believe that people who avoid the congestion charge are cheating Londoners out of improvements to public transport. • Around 70% of charge payers say they have not experienced problems with paying the charges. • The more changes in travel behavior are reported as: change of mode, rerouting of around the charging zone, traveling outside charging hours, traveling less frequently to the charging zone.

20. 13. Conclusion. Research undertaken by Transport for London has shown that congestion charging will lead to reduce traffic levels which are equivalent to those enjoyed during the school holidays. TfL is bringing in extra buses to the capital’s streets, introducing more routes and improving the frequency and reliability of other routes. Although the scheme is good there need some more continuous discussion. Some people are there who do not want to travel by public transport but are not rich enough, this is a problem for them. The traffic pressure will be more outside the congestion zone. If new routes are applied it will be a matter of huge invest. Over all these things the scheme is appreciable.

21. Thank you