London's congestion charge is to increase threefold to £25 (€34) for the most-polluting vehicles, in a bid to improve air quality. Owners of cars with carbon emissions over 225g/km will pay the increased fee to enter central London's congestion zone.
To balance the effect, congestion charges will be waived for owners of the least-polluting vehicles, with emissions below 120g/km.
The changes were announced by London mayor Ken Livingstone yesterday. He introduced the initial congestion charge in 2003 to reduce traffic, improve air quality and raise cash for public transportation.
Milan, Stockholm and Singapore have similar systems, and New York is considering one. In London, congestion is increasing even though the charge has reduced the number of drivers entering the zone. The city's transportation department reported "a sharp increase in congestion" inside the zone in a report last year.
Livingstone particularly targeted sport utility vehicles (SUVs), saying they were wasteful and impractical in London. He has said he wants to provide incentives for owners of these vehicles to buy more fuel-efficient cars.
Livingstone said the new charge was part of a package of measures, including the introduction of a clean air zone and a €670 million investment in walking and cycling, that would help London reduce its CO2 emissions by 60 per cent by 2025.
However, motoring organisations and political opponents said the plans would penalise motorists without reducing pollution.
About 150,000 cars enter the congestion zone in central London each day, of which 30,000 will fall under the new pollution charge.
The mayor said he expects a 30 per cent drop in the number of these vehicles, with the revenue - predicted to be between €40 million and €67 million a year - helping to pay for radical improvements to cycling and walking facilities announced earlier this week.
"I have every sympathy with a Scottish hill farmer who needs his 4x4 to get around," said Livingstone. "But there is absolutely no justification for cars producing high amounts of pollution being driven in central London."
Sheila Rainger, acting director for the RAC Foundation, said: "Ken's proposals will increase congestion and do very little to cut CO2 in London - the real polluters are the old bangers kept on the road by motorists who can't afford to change them. This is gesture politics rather than a serious attempt to tackle London's air quality problems."
- Bloomberg/Guardian News Service