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Road Pricing
Local schemes a precursor to a nationwide network - Critics say motoring toll is an unfair tax on the poor
Dan Milmo, transport correspondent The Guardian
The government will push ahead with its much-maligned road pricing policy this week when it publishes proposals for pay-as-you-drive trials.
A draft version of the road transport bill will give local authorities the power to introduce road pricing in towns and cities. Ten areas in England considering schemes include Manchester and Birmingham, although ministers say a national scheme is at least a decade away.
The local schemes are seen as a precursor to a UK-wide network that would track the movement of cars by satellite or roadside gantries, charging about £1.30 a mile on the busiest roads.
A government-backed report has argued that a national road-pricing scheme could bring benefits of up to £25bn a year by 2025. Its author, former British Airways chief executive Sir Rod Eddington, has described the policy as an "economic no-brainer" in the face of widespread public opposition to charging drivers.
However, some local politicians have expressed concern over the trials and accused the government of "blackmailing" authorities into applying for schemes as a quid pro quo for greater investment in public transport. Manchester and Birmingham have insisted that pay-as-you-drive or congestion charge schemes will not be implemented without multi-billion pound investments in public transport.
As well as local political opposition, the trials will have to overcome public distrust of road pricing. Nearly two million people signed an online petition on the Downing Street website calling on Tony Blair to abandon the policy. The petition urged the prime minister to "scrap the planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy". The petition described road pricing as "an unfair tax on those who live apart from families and poorer people who will not be able to afford the high monthly costs. Please Mr Blair - forget about road pricing and concentrate on improving our roads to reduce congestion."
Ten areas have received government money to investigate schemes: Greater Manchester; west Midlands, incorporating Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry; east Midlands, in a joint bid by Leicester, Derby and Nottingham; Tyne and Wear; Durham; Bristol; Reading; Cambridgeshire; Shrewsbury and Norwich.
Manchester is the most advanced but the plan to charge motorists for using the city's busiest roads will not be implemented until 2012 at the earliest.
The road transport bill will also contain proposals that are opposed by many privately owned bus operators.
In a move that could roll back changes brought in when the bus industry was privatized 21 years ago, local authorities will be given the power to set fares, frequencies and timetables.
Provided they can demonstrate that it is in the public interest, local authorities can establish new contracts with bus operators.
The legislation is driven by statistics which show that in 2005 bus and tram journeys rose by 1.9% in London, where Transport for London has greater control over operators, but fell by 1.2% in the rest of England. Bus operators such as National Express argue that local authorities and passenger transport executives need control of the roads in order to create the priority lanes which, they claim, would make bus services much more efficient. Some bus operators are more pragmatic.
FirstGroup, the largest road and rail transport company in the UK, believes London-style bus contracts, where operators are paid to run routes specified by the mayor's transport authority, will be too expensive for the rest of the country and the bill will be a "last resort" for local authorities.
"It is a last resort and if it is hailed as such it will keep the industry honest," Moir Lockhead, FirstGroup chief executive said: "It makes sure that we do what we say we will do. But regulation for its own sake is a negative. Economic regulation does not improve traffic flows."
Brian Souter, chief executive of Stagecoach, warned last year that the "dysfunctional" structure of local government would hamper the introduction of road pricing and added that passenger transport executives (PTEs) should have less power over bus companies rather than more. Citing the decline in bus use outside London, he said PTEs such as the ones that run buses and trains in Manchester and Birmingham will need an overhaul.
Special reports
Congestion charging http://tinyurl.com/2ljgow
Transport in Britain http://tinyurl.com/37jrm4
Politics in London http://tinyurl.com/2pzqnk
Councils in London http://tinyurl.com/2nj57q
Useful links
Transport for London - congestion charging http://tinyurl.com/zkktr
Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority http://tinyurl.com/qp5tb
Transport 2000 http://tinyurl.com/42eb6
National Alliance Against Tolls http://tinyurl.com/339jks
Association of British Drivers' congestion charge factsheet http://tinyurl.com/2s3mwr
Sod U Ken anti-congestion charge site http://tinyurl.com/kjark
Road Pricing In The News Again
Commenting on general road pricing news, Paul Smith, founder of SafeSpeed.org.uk, said: "Road pricing is hugely expensive to install and operate, and it won't even cut congestion."
"To see Labour pushing for a tax intended to price the poor off the roads is simply astonishing. Pricing the poor off the roads will leave more space for the rich who will immediately take advantage, thus restoring congestion levels."
"The only people who would benefit from road pricing are the technology suppliers - perhaps ministers need to be far more careful about just who they are listening to?"
"1.8 million people said no. No means no."
See Safe Speed's road pricing report: "Money for Nothing". http://www.safespeed.org.uk/tolltax.pdf
See the 'Travel Tax' campaign web site: http://traveltax.org.uk
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