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Congestion Charging
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necropolist
necropolist
1689 posts

Re: Congestion Charging
Feb 19, 2003, 11:18
As I think I said at (or near) the beginning - it's not that the CC is a dreadful idea, but as it is it's being poorly carried out. And there are real issues with that that need addressing before simply going 'ra ra, cars are bad, stop nasty car drivers'. Because if the scheme is badly carried out it will fail, and be stopped entirely. So it's important to actually address its shortcomings.

>If it slows down our rampant exploitation and devestation of oil producing areas, then this is helping the truly poor. To say otherwise is (in my opinion) to show a dangerous lack of perspective and misunderstanding of consequences.

That's true, but it is true for many many other issues as well. If we were to follow this thru to its logical extent it would mean half of our lives being priced beyond the reach of most people. And given the way the world is, none (or very very few) of the really poorest would actually benefit - only a few rich people (here and in the 'poor' countries), so I don't think that that’s much of a solution, just a way of increasing the divide between rich and poor in this country.


>but yeah, ultimately there will always be an area on the edge of the zone that sees some negative impact.

So that makes it alright? Course not, what it means is that it must be carried out in a really thorough going manner, residents parking permits should be bloody free - charge for second vehicles maybe, but not for first ones. It requires a systematic approach if the system is to work, and 'looking after' the fringe area's is an important part of that

>Just where's that cash coming from BEFORE the charge goes into effect?.... Ken's spare funds have been going into the infrastructure of the congestion charge (a big up-front cost)

Well, there's one area straight away then! But for a more detailed reply, have a look at my other response this morning to LL's posts.

>If you're driving a car into London every day, and still "the worst off" in society then this planet is clearly not in half as bad a state as i once believed.
This goes back to my second point again. I should have been more precise in my comment tho (as I think I was elsewhere in that no it's not the very worst off, in the UK, who will be worst hit (as you say they can't afford to drive a car) but it will be those slightly, but only slightly, better off than that.

Somewhere you also ask who, other than medical staff, should be exempted. Not a vast number of people obviously - that would remove the whole point of the charge. But especially all those who must start or finish work in unsocial hours when there is little public transport available, and those who must carry lots of stuff with them to their jobs (there is room for argument about those who can pass the charge on to their customers there)

The CC aint a bad idea, but the way its being carried out has a lot of holes in, imo, in part this is because blair doesn't want it to be too succesful, cos then ken will get the credit, which would never do
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