Congestion Charging

Manchester had its say on whether or not to implement a Congestion Charging zone this week, and overwhelmingly (79%) rejected it. A number of people have had a go at me for voting 'No', and predictably enough, the 'Yes' camp are now trying to say the 'No' voters 'didn't understand what they were voting for'.

Now apart from this being very simplistic, it's also rather patronising. So the 800,000+ 'No' voters are dumb animals who haven't the mental capacity to think it through? I would have to say I was initially in favour of Congestion Charging in principle, but on looking into it, and into Manchester's proposal in particular, I changed my mind. Here's why:

• The suggested improvements to Metrolink basically involve 12 miles of new track that don't go anywhere I need to go, plus a few more carriages on a massively overcrowded system. Plus Metrolink is nowhere near where I live.
• Bus and cycle lanes actually increase congestion, since there is less space on the roads.
• More buses in the early mornings and late evenings? If there's a demand for them, why are they not already there, providing more profits for the bus companies?
• Train improvements seem limited to a few extra carriages, a couple of new stations and more CCTV.
• To enforce the scheme, there would be £300 million of new cameras. Is it just me that sees that amount of money as obscene?
• The route of the 'inner charging ring' was never clearly defined or shown on any of the literature sent out about the charge, but was clearly a LOT bigger than what most people would define as the city centre.
• If I wanted to go away for the weekend (reducing Manchester's congestion!) I would have to pay for the privelege of leaving Manchester.
• There would be a unified payment system for public transport in Manchester, similar to London's Oystercard. This would actually be a good thing.
• Many of the posters for the 'Yes' campaign talked about reduced bus fares. But in the detail of the proposal, there was NO commitment to doing this.
  
• Congestion charging in London has not worked. Congestion has already returned to the previous levels within just a few years.
• Many businesses have no choice but to use vehicles at peak times. So many of them would potentially go under due to this charge.
• Crucially, since it would be car drivers who paid the charge, there was NO improvement to roads as part of the scheme.

So yes, I did understand the issues. And I decided the scheme was flawed and voted 'No'. Well done to all the other voters in Manchester for rejecting what is essentially a tax dressed up as a public improvement scheme.