Making Getting Around Easier
Singapore and London have implemented congestion pricing schemes and now possibly soon New York will follow as first steps in programs to clean the air, reduce congestion & pollution costs and improve the quality of life and public transport. Fossil fueled vehicles are likely to become cost-ineffective dinosaurs in cities first, hopefully precipitating a trend that will spread outward from urban cores.
Congestion pricing has as much to due with changing traffic & transportation patterns as is does with behavior modification of both the people who plan and use them. It is a first step on the road to planned obsolescence of petroleum fueled vehicles and their replacement both by less destructive fuel systems and more efficient public transportation in urban areas where air quality really suffers and residents pay an additional carbon based lung tax with every breath.
Hard to Break Addictions
Less traffic and more efficient transportation may eventually lead to the development of cost effective 'people mover' type technologies, ZipCars being a first iteration of this in the US and the personalized people movers planned in the UAE a second. It also offers a significant opportunity to begin replacing roadbeds with pervious surfaces better for both walking and run-off control and ultimately leading to a reduction in the pavement area needed to support traffic.
Nicky Gavron, the Deputy Mayor of London makes clear, well thought out points that are based on the practical experience of the large scale implementation of congestion pricing in a big city. The system in London works even though the US Embassy, for example, has gained local notoriety for its refusal to pay its congestion charges.
Central London
One of the most important points Deputy Mayor Gavron made was the importance of 'doing your homework so as to have answers ready for the questions your constituents will inevitably ask about how it will affect them.' One of her main goals was to make the last mile home a safe and enjoyable commute for everyone. When you change the pattern of transportation you make the look and feel of the streets better which causes a boom in people outside on the streets and leads to a general improvement in sidewalk amenities across the board.
"Right now we are feeling the effects of oil burned in the 1950's. Today we use the same amount of oil in 6 weeks we used in a year back then. The consensus is we have 10 years to stop runaway climate change. One of the principle ways we can do this is to reduce fossil fueled car & truck use which accounts for 60-70% of CO2 (and other) greenhouse gasemissions," Nicky Gavron.
"London introduced congestion pricing as a first step. It was done against hysterical and sustained press opposition and after a London City Government was re-instated after having been abolished 14 years previously by PM Margaret Thatcher.
"At that time London had the worst air quality, in terms of nitrous oxides and particulate matter at street level of any city in Europe. At baby carriage level this meant children were getting advanced placement in Asthma from the cradle on."
As part of congestion pricing, London decided that buses were the most cost effective and immediate way to get people moving quickly. Using established techniques such as dedicated lanes, express buses and developing a reliable schedule TfL started overhauling the bus system.
The Jam
After congestion pricing was implemented, all bus schedules had to be changed because all the buses started running ahead of schedule for the first time in memory.
There was a strong bias against using buses due to Margaret Thatchers famous remark 'if you are seen on a bus after 30, you are a loser in life.' A perception that took some effort to change so that the bus system is now perceived as classless.' Modern, convenient and on time scheduled transportation have done a lot to change that previous view.
Doing the advance research and groundwork is really important to get congestion pricing implementation right. In addition to dedicated bus and bicycle lanes you need:
-reliable number (license) plate recognition technology
-reliable comfortable and timely bus service
-resident discounts
-free weekends
-local resident parking permits
-vouchers for visitors
-exceptions for alternatively fueled vehicles, hybrids & handicapped
-and multiple payment technology options
In London's case one can be billed, pay online, pay by text message or just about any other variation you can think of. Also London has worked out schemes to keep neighborhoods on the periphery of the central zone from becoming in Nicky Gavron's phrase : 'Rat Runs' places where drivers descend en masse upon to avoid the central zone charges passing through or leaving their vehicles to clog these border or peripheral areas with traffic, parked vehicles and noxious fumes.
The system works in London. Councilman Goia from LIC District in New York states that we already have a pricing regime that encourages rat running in NYC and helps put asthma inhalers in kid's pockets. So implementing an actual charge that can be put into the transportation coffers is not such a big step since commuters are already paying the costs but getting no benefits.
A Google View
Numbers:Some features and statistics. Residents of London's central zone receive a discount of upto 90%, alternatively fueled vehicles go free, wherever they come from. The number of cars in the central zone is down 30%, traffic in general is down 25%, 60% switched the means of their commutes while there was no overall change in the number of commutes. Like in London over 40% of New Yorkers do not have cars so the majority of people already use public transport.
The system costed about 190 million sterling to setup and costs about 95 million sterling to run annually in Central London. It generates about 212 million in revenue of which 120 million is reinvested back into the system. Particularly into freight transfer centers which act as joint depots for the delivery of materials, goods and cargo.
It seems to have had a neutral impact on businesses, some business have benefitted other niche businesses have been forced to relocate to different parts of London indirectly stimulating those neighborhoods with unexpected new development. There have been increases in average speed and people feel much better about their streets.
Lagos Rush Hour
The program affected about 15% of Londoners, 10% of car commuters but the 10% of shoppers who journey by car stayed the same. Tourists, commuters in general and cyclists seem to have benefited. Their successful implementation shows the importance of getting your technology and monitoring right and take into account the public.
Congestion pricing leads to and can encourage emissions influenced charges effectively a system of differential charges based on tailpipe outfalls. It will encourage the use of alternatively fueled vehicles and help create the market infrastructure to produce, fuel and maintain them. Effectively stimulating growth from the center out. Vehicles, especially commercial ones, are often replaced in a 6-10 year cycle as they live out their appointed lifespans. This can lead to a significant change in vehicle composition in only a space of 10 years. Congestion pricing is a tool to get there.
Effectively an aging, congested transportation system already levies a time and a gas tax on business. Who if they change their vehicle types go free or at a reduced rates of 33% which would give them and advantage over their competition and result in more available loans for vehicle change-over, lower cost insurance and other benefits such as cutting down on vehicular emissions which affect the public health because as a recent USC study has shown 50% children who grow up withing 500 meters of a expressways have lung damage by the age of 10.
Things that can be done now with little or now capital outlay:-Intermodal Hubs
-Express Bus service
-Commuter Rail access
-Light Rail Expansion is necessary but more expensive so comes later.
Congestion pricing also effectively changes the pattern of real estate and business development by feeing up resources and giving people a different route for the last mile home. For example New York's transportation system was mostly designed 100 years ago to bring workers from the Boros to industry in Manhattan. The city has changed a lot since then and so has the demand for better interboro, interregional, intermodal passenger & freight connexions.
New York, Same Problems
Making the right economic choices for the future helps. Congestion pricing is a tool that Singapore & London have used to get on that road to regional transportation systems that work better and ecourage the purchase and use of fossil fuel free personal and commercial vehicles.
Planned implementations, are likely to be criticized in the press as some kind of social engineering from the top down whether the result is ultimately good or bad. Sometimes it takes the carrot and the stick to get a slow moving beast on the right road.
For More information:http://www.tfl.gov.uk/
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Joerg
