Error parsing XSLT file: \xslt\FacebookOpenGraph.xslt Mike Waters' Blog: 31 December 2008 - Manchester, the shape of things to come?
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Mike Waters' Blog: 31 December 2008 - Manchester, the shape of things to come?

Date: 05 January 2009

Mike Waters is senior insight & consultancy manager at Arval, the leading vehicle leasing and fleet management company.

Almost 80% of voters in Greater Manchester rejected the proposed congestion charging scheme, which would have seen commuters paying up to £5 a day to travel in and out of the city centre during rush hour in return for major investment in local trains, trams and buses.

The level of hype this proposal created was significant with supporters and opponents of the scheme engaging in a huge publicity campaign in an attempt to sway participants in the postal ballot.

Motorists would have been charged each time they crossed one of the two cordons established for the scheme. The outer ring tracked the M60 orbital motorway, while the inner ring encompassed Manchester's city centre creating one of the world's biggest congestion zones.

Now the dust has settled, the big question is: does this spell the end for road pricing in the UK? While its certainly a blow, the answer has to be a resounding no. Within hours of the referendum results being declared, the Department for Transport said it would press ahead with development of a series of studies aimed at testing the viability of various technologies and charging systems.

The fact of the matter is congestion charge or no congestion charge, something has to change. Road pricing schemes across the world are becoming increasingly common and there is no getting away from the fact that traffic is getting worse so road charging schemes aren't going to go away. The Government doesn't introduce these proposals to annoy the public or provoke debate, that's the last thing they want. They do it because there is a genuine problem that needs to be addressed and CO2 emissions from transport will have to be curbed if the UK is to hit its climate change targets.

Bottom line, there are simply too many cars competing for road space at peak times which is slowing travel down, causing frustration to drivers and costing the UK plc money. Just building more roads is expensive and polluting and actually encourages people to drive more at a time when we should be reducing emissions.

So, can we avoid the wider implementation of road pricing schemes in the future probably not.

But, by cutting out unnecessary journeys, car sharing and travelling outside of peak times we may be able to limit the overall scale of implementation, longer term then the choice is ours!



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