THE ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH DRIVERS
IN SCOTLAND
Letter To The Scottish Executive
The following is a copy of a letter forwarded on June 16th 2002 to the Scottish Executive in connection with the implementation of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 in respect of the proposal to commence Congestion Charging in Edinburgh.
Road User Charging Regulations
Scottish Executive
Development Department
Transport Division 1
Area 2-D North
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh
EH6 6QQ
16th June 2002
Dear Sir
On behalf of the Association of British Drivers in Scotland, I would like to make some general points on the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 which seeks, in my view, to force road pricing on the public and businesses, whether they like it or not.
Charging motorists more is not the answer to solving congestion.
Threatening society's freedom to travel how and when they choose, by forcing the majority onto infrequent public transport, is not an acceptable solution either. People choose their own vehicles over public transport because they offer a much higher degree of privacy, personal safety, comfort, versatility and reliability.
Granted, our ability to make such choices can sometimes lead to traffic congestion, but some Local Authorities are artificially increasing the congestion in their own towns and cities. How? By closing roads to private vehicles, increasing parking restrictions and deterring traffic with 'calming' features. Adding or rephasing traffic lights to give more priority to cyclists and pedestrians combined with reduced speed limits and street widths, through the introduction of bus or cycle lanes, conspire to lengthen the queues further. London is a prime example of this.
Simply opening up all bus lanes to cars with two or more occupants would boost traffic flow and alleviate the frustration caused by needless queues of traffic.
In your consultation document, you state the requirement that:
"a range of public transport improvements are in place before charging is introduced, with further improvements to follow."
The public must be told specifically what improvements will be facilitated, with comparative performance statistics and a timetable for implementation made freely available. If these improvements fail to materialise, congestion charging must be abandoned.
As most congestion occurs at peak times, it is disgraceful if, as seems likely, motorists are charged outside these periods, when congestion isn't a problem.
The reality of high demand only at peak times also applies for public transport. At other times, demand is comparatively low. Therefore, subsidising more public transport outside peak times will not offer good value for money. Also, because buses, for example, will be running at a low percentage of their capacity outside peak times, they will emit much more pollution than transporting the same number of passengers using private cars.
Motoring taxation, for many years, has largely disappeared into central government coffers, resulting in the wholly inadequate transport infrastructure we have today. Against this backdrop and considering the reservations I have expressed above, why should we be asked to pay yet more, through additional pricing, to negotiate the same potholed disintegrating roads?
Congestion charging 'promises' to generate enough revenue to improve public transport, which is already heavily subsidised by the taxpayer. Taking London's proposed scheme as an example, the bureaucracy of administration will absorb a large proportion of the revenue raised, so there won't be much left over to improve anything! Why should schemes in Scotland be any different?
In conclusion then, it is my opinion that road pricing will simply be a tax on mobility and it will have no effect on reducing congestion, as the car is currently unparalleled as a form of efficient transportation. If travel by car does reduce in areas where road pricing is implemented, it will probably be at the expense of businesses located in such areas. If this happens, the Scottish economy, politicians and the general public will be counting the cost of the increasingly misguided crusade against car use.
Yours faithfully
Simon Tonks
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