Central London Congestion Charging

Central London Congestion Charging

David HutchinsonGREATER LONDON AUTHORITY

International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and Environmental Protection Association in association with theIntegrated Program on Urban, Regional and Global Air Pollution Mexico City January 19-23 2004

What I will talk about today

• Background and context

• Operation of the scheme

• Projected impacts of the scheme

• Importance of monitoring

• Some early indicative results

• Issues we have had to overcome

Central London• Greater London - largest urban area in Europe,

over 7 million population

• Central London - 1 million workers, heart of UK business, government, media, heritage

• Suffered worst traffic congestion in the UK– average traffic speeds 15km/hr– vehicles typically spent half their time in queues

• Congestion was increasing, costing people and business time and money

• General acceptance - ‘something had to be done’

Part of a wider strategy• Congestion charging part of London-wide Strategy -

No.1 priority ‘tackling congestion’

• Integrated approach: public transport; parking & loading enforcement; congestion charging

• Extensive public consultation over 18 months

• Public transport improvements in advance

• Associated traffic management

• Commitment to monitoring and adjustments

So how does congestion charging work?

• Daily, weekly, monthly or annual payment,for individual vehicle registration number

• Flat charge of £5 per day (Monday - Friday 7am - 6.30pm) for all vehicles

• Payment by post, telephone, internet, SMS, or at self service machines, retail outlets and some petrol stations

• Payment available up until midnight, but charge rises to £10 after 10pm

Paying the Charge

T 123 CBI T 123 CBI T 123 CBI T 123 ABC

Enforcement• Vehicle registration numbers observed by fixed and

mobile cameras and compared with payment database

• Cameras linked to automatic number plate recognition technology

• If no record of payment by midnight, £80 penalty charge sent to registered keeper of vehicle

• Vehicles of persistent evaders clamped and / or removed

Camera enforcement

Colour Contextual ImageColour Contextual Image

Monochrome Image from ANPR cameraMonochrome Image from ANPR camera

ANPR system outputANPR system output

Evidential Record SummaryEvidential Record Summary

Number Plate image from ANPRcamera, Lane 1

Number Plate image from ANPRcamera, Lane 1

Key Exemptions and Discounts

• Motorbikes/mopeds• Military vehicles• Emergency services• Taxis and licensed

minicabs• Disabled persons• Buses, coaches and

minibuses

• Certain alternative fuel vehicles

• Breakdown & recovery vehicles

• Certain health service workers

• 90% discount for residents of zone

Projected impacts• Reduce traffic inside charging zone by 10-15% and 2-3% in Inner

London

• Cut traffic delays by 20-30% inside charging zone and 5-10% outside

• Traffic speeds increase by 10-15% inside charging zone and 2-4% immediately outside

• Help bus operations

• Improve journey times and reliability

• Net revenues of £130 million per year

• Improvements:

bus network, including night services

network accessibility

safety and security

for pedestrians and cyclists

interchanges

• Accelerating road and bridge maintenance

• Transport funding for local authorities

Investing the revenue – early years

Investing the revenue - long term

• Expanded Underground and rail capacity: new services across and around London

• New river crossings of the River Thames

• Improved access to London’s town centres

• Tram or segregated bus schemes

• Selected improvements to London’s roads

Public Transport Improvements

• Substantial enhancements to bus capacity:

- New routes

- Frequency increases on existing routes

- Introduction of larger buses• New 24-hour services • Bus fares frozen• Better enforcement of bus lanes• Better information & security• Some improvements on Underground & Rail

Monitoring the impacts• Comprehensive 5 year monitoring programme

• Traffic patterns and traffic conditions

• Public transport operations and passenger levels

• Social impacts, including vulnerable groups

• Business and economic effects

• Environmental impacts, particularly air quality

• Case studies

• Results published every year

• First Annual Report published 3 June 2003

Some early success• 20% reduction in traffic entering the zone• Sample traffic reduction of 16% within the zone• No increase in traffic on Inner Ring Road• No significant change in traffic levels

outside the zone• Sample traffic speeds within the zone increased by 10-15%• Around 100,000 payments received each day• Public transport able to handle displaced car users• Bus patronage increased by 14% in peak hour

Traffic entering the congestion charging zone

Flow on 16 High-flow Inbound Gateway Sites during the Charging Hours (07:00 - 18:30)

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000

03/02/03 10/02/03 17/02/03 24/02/03 03/03/03 10/03/03 17/03/03 24/03/03 31/03/03 07/04/03 14/04/03 21/04/03

Date

Tota

l Flo

w (

vehic

les e

xcl 2-w

heele

rs)

Traffic inside the congestion charging zone

Flow on 15 One-way Charging Zone Sitesduring the Charging Hours (07:00 - 18:30)

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

Date

Traffic on the Inner Ring Road

Flow on 12 One-way Inner Ring Road Sitesduring the Charging Hours (07:00 - 18:30)

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

03-F

eb

05-F

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07-F

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25-F

eb

27-F

eb

03-M

ar

05-M

ar

07-M

ar

11-M

ar

13-M

ar

17-M

ar

19-M

ar

21-M

ar

25-M

ar

27-M

ar

31-M

ar

02-A

pr

04-A

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24-A

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Date

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Veh

icle

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-wh

eele

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Bus delays due to traffic congestion

% SCHEDULED KILOMETRES NOT OPERATED DUE TO TRAFFIC DELAYS Monday-Friday

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

Charging Zone Inner Ring Road

% k

ms

not o

pera

ted

Last year

This year

Bus speeds

BUS SPEEDS Monday-Friday AM peak

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

16.0

Charging Zone Inner Ring Road

Km

/h Last year

This year

Bus reliability

BUS SERVICE RELIABILITYMonday-Friday 0730-1830

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

Charging Zone Inner Ring Road

Exc

ess

Wai

t (m

inut

es)

Last year

This year

Payment channels

• 100,000 payments received each day

• % split between all channels:

– Retail - 37%

– Web - 25%

– SMS - 18%

– Call Centre - 20% (of which 6% using IVR)

Key issues we have overcome

• Translating theory into practice in 33 months

• Presenting congestion charging to the public

• Creating the organisational arrangements

• Managing a complex project

• Improving public transport

• Managing traffic around the charging zone

• Public information

Further information

Transport for London www.tfl.gov.uk

Main public website on congestion chargingwww.cclondon.com/

Background paperswww.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/cclondon/cc_intro.shtml