Congestion charge has had no effect on reducing London's pollution, finds study

by amyjudd | May 1, 2008 at 10:40 pm | 1334 views | 6 comments

Air quality and pollution have not been reduced in London by the introduction of the city centre congestion charges, a study has found.

Researchers found that the introduction of the controversial charging zone in Central London made no difference to the levels of smog and noxious gases.

In fact, some pollutants actually rose when the charge came in because of the extra buses and taxis on the roads.

The new findings come as dozens of councils are considering bringing in road-pricing schemes to improve the flow of traffic and boost city air quality.

Professor Frank Kelly, an environmental health expert at King's College London, said congestion charges that covered only small parts of cities did little to cut air pollution.

"The problem was that the central zone was only 1 per cent of the Greater London area," he said. "Even though it reduced the traffic by 40,000 vehicles a day, there was a dramatic increase in the number of buses.

"So the benefit was to some extent offset by the rise in public transport."

The capital introduced the charge in 2003, when drivers had to pay £5 to enter an eight square mile area of the city centre. Since then the toll has increased to 8 and the zone extended.

The scheme, which was introduced to cut traffic rather than pollution, initially had a dramatic impact. By 2006, the number of motorists driving through the capital's streets had fallen by a fifth.

However, Professor Kelly's team, who took air samples two years before and after the charge was introduced, noticed little change in pollutants such as smog, diesel soot and carbon monoxide.

The professor believes that expanding the zone to all of London would have "a small but important impact on air quality".

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ka052000

at 03:13 on May 2nd, 2008

Congestion Charge - Coming to Manchester soon too.

ka052000 has contributed a photo to this story.

gduk1310

at 12:00 on May 2nd, 2008

This was taken in 2003 just shortly after the intrudction of the CC in London

gduk1310 has contributed a photo to this story.

jancyclops

at 18:18 on May 2nd, 2008

The Congestion Charge was introduced to reduce congestion. To a certain extent it has done so.

The potential future reduction in pollution will come from a number of other initiatives including the Low Emission Zone (all London Boroughs, at the moment aimed at goods vehicles), the introduction of dual fuel buses, the requirement for new taxis to be more efficient, etc.

Also the road fund licence is now horrendous for less efficient vehicles, the Congestion Charge is possibly going to be hiked up for gas guzzlers as well, and the income tax/NIC charge for company cars is very high and is based on the car's exhaust emissions – all things which should (hopefully) help with air quality by making people go for smaller, more efficient cars.

Tim Jokl

at 14:45 on May 3rd, 2008

I think the drop in the number of cars within the C-charge zone has been a little exaggerated, but that’s based only on what I see around me.

The change in direction for the C-Charge, i.e. the idea that congestion can’t be dealt with but pollution can, I thought was good.

The general idea was to allow greener cars go free to encourage people to ditch their 4x4s. Londoners bought 1000s of hybrid cars when it was initially announced they would be exempt from the charge – so it does have the power to affect buying habits.

But as of yesterday, 2nd May, London has a new Mayor. It’s unclear whether he will dismantle the C-Charge altogether but he has said he intends to reverse the policy which would have seen owners of SUVs paying £25 per day.