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U-Know! Forum » Congestion Charging |
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Killer 255 posts |
Feb 17, 2003, 18:02
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Thats the bit that really bugs me about this scheme, unless you drive in every day there is not much capability to pay in advance, therefore making it the drivers responsibility to remember to pay or else get a fine and therefore more revenue for Tfl. I would prefer a scheme like the Dart Tag at the Dartford Bridge, where you pay in advance and then they deduct it from your account, cos I know I will forget to pay.
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Moon Cat 9577 posts |
Feb 17, 2003, 19:13
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It seemed to go quite well today. Quite interesting that they've started this during a half-term. Be interesting to see what happens when the kids are back in school.
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wychburyman 951 posts |
Feb 17, 2003, 21:12
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I hear McDonalds are introducing indegestion charging!
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PaulMakesMusic 951 posts |
Feb 17, 2003, 22:12
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I remember Militant calling for just such a solution back in the eighties. Sadly. The powers that be decided their ideas lacked credibility.
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necropolist 1689 posts |
Feb 17, 2003, 23:16
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really? arse, not gonna shout about tat one too loud then!! actually i think its just pretty straight forward sociialist idea...i hope
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Lord Lucan 2702 posts |
Feb 18, 2003, 10:26
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Making the rich pay to drive their cars (a ton of metal capable of seating at least four, but usually carrying one) into London, then using that money to (hopefully) improve public transport is a pretty socialist kinda idea, I think. Besides, it seems to be working (seemed even quieter on the roads to me on my walk to work from the station today), most Londoners agree with it - even if they're drivers and no credible alternatives have been proposed. I witnessed an interesting incident this morning. A woman who had obviously never commuted on a crowded train before was sitting with her bags next to her and was really nasty to this poor woman who asked her to move them so she could sit down. She also sat out the rest of the journey looking down her nose at us proles. Welcome to the real world, love! As far as low-paid workers goes, the cost of a weekly travelcard for the tube is about £25 (the same as a week's congestion charge). Those of us on salaries too low to afford cars have to pay this much to get into work every day. Why should those in cars pay nothing? Also, why does a 'low-paid' worker have a divine right to use a car when the rest of us are expected not to. Also, the definition of 'low-paid worker' seems to be stretched a bit. When the Evening Standard did a couple of profiles of 'low-paid workers' recently they included an interior designer on £21,000 per year. Firstly, interior design is not an essential service and £21,000 is not, as far as I'm concerned, low pay. Also the attitude of all of them seemed to be "There's too much congestion on the road, but I'm not prepared to get off it myself.", none of them convinced me it was essential they use a car rather than train or bus. On a side-note its good to know that Steven Norris, who has just been selected to be conservative candidate for mayor, committed himself to abolishing the charge a couple of days ago. I think he's just lost himself the election already.
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Lord Lucan 2702 posts |
Feb 18, 2003, 10:35
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It's not THAT difficult to pay... https://www.cclondon.com/WebCenterBrandedTR4/dynamicPages/WF_PurchaseLicenceHelpA_W.aspx
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necropolist 1689 posts |
Feb 18, 2003, 12:04
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yeah make the rich pay, but not at the cost of the next to poorest (not the very poorest as they don't have cars at all). But you can't say that without paying a CG car drivers are paying NOTHING. Theres road tax & fuel tax for starters. In a fairly small car the running cots are about what, 35p a mile (judging from what you can claim in expenses in my workplace), so a fiver a day equals 15 miles a day or so, probably about average, if not a little low, for London drivers. So the CG doubles their costs. The fact theat the Evening Shittard presented a lousy case for opposition to charging doesn't exactly surprsie me, I mean when did they ever present a decent case for or against anything, it's a piss poor tory rag. While choosing an interior designer as an example is laughable tho, even 21k in London is on the borders of low pay, imo, it certainly isn't good pay. many people are paid worse than that, and whilst they certainly don't all require cars for their work many do, and they will be extremely discrminatd against Their is also the question of how the charge will affect other area's. hackney are apparently massively extending their 'residents parking' scheme - where you have to register your car - at a cost of £90pa in order to be allowed to park by your house. without a parking scheme the area would probably be clogged by people driving up close to the CG area & then getting out - so something needed to be done, but £90 is a lot of money for a lot of people. It's not that a congestion charge is a simply bad idea, it's that this one will be bad in many ways in practise. Much of that aint livingstones fault - obviously the hackney thing is out of his control, & the government have imposed restrictions upon how the scheme could be made more flexible & fair, but that shouldn't mean we just accept it, i dont think. Putting the money back into public transport is great, but it should have been done well BEFORE the charges started, not after. As it is it does discriminate against the worst off in society, whilst ruch scumbags can drive around just as before, but with a few less nasty oiks in there way. Did deffo love your story of the posho woman on the tube tho.
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cancer boy 977 posts |
Feb 18, 2003, 12:20
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Anyone notice that NCP car parks are offering a £5/day discount? http://www.ncp.co.uk/page.aspx?theLang=001lngdef&pointerID=69360UpL8RBhviUTnOgjWPj9KNrOLT0Q
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Lord Lucan 2702 posts |
Feb 18, 2003, 12:39
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OK, I concede that there should be more flexibility in who is liable for congestion charging and more exceptions (people who knock-off from nightshifts at 8am and drive OUT of the zone at peak time for example), but being poorly paid doesn't in itself make it OK to drive into London, people should have to prove that their car is essential for their job (say, teachers with huge numbers of books to carry), then given a discount or exemption. I hope that something like this may come in at some stage, but can see that the admin would have been too much of a nightmare to administer at the moment. So, I do agree with you to some extent. But I'm sorry I really don't have much sympathy for people on 21 grand pa who can afford to run a car and just don't like the idea of sitting on a tube. They aren't gonna get me worrying when I'm earning a lot less, can't afford a car, always use public transport and find it absurd that some people think because you have a bag to carry then they need to take a ton of metal into the city centre.
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