Congestion Charging in City Centres.. your thoughts

[Gilly T]

Ok so I've just had a row with hubby over the proposed congestion charging in Manchester City Centre and was wondering what other people think about it.

I've got mixed views as I know that something needs to be done to reduce the traffic in the city and also to improve public transport because it's basically pants at times (even though I'm a car driver).

The proposals for manchester are that a charge will be made to enter the city centre on a daily basis (I think) which will be split into peak and off peak times. Something like £5 per day for peak standard access although there are concessions.

The only problem I do have with it is that it isn't strictly the city centre, it's actually an 80 mile radius as they are using the M60 ringroad as the boundary. This is just before my daughters secondary school which is about five miles away from where we live so I have to drive her there and would have to cross the boundary to do so. This isn't really my gripe about it. There are a number of districts you have to drive through to actually get to the city centre which are inside the boundary.

Manchester has an inner ring road and an outer ring road and I feel that it would be more appropriate to charge to cross the inner ring road as that is where the real congestion is. This leaves me feeling a bit like it's just about the money and not about reducing congestion.

Hubby is an electrician and travels all over for his work including the city centre and surrounding districts and he says that ANY congestion charging could possibly cost him his job as this cost would have to be passed on to the consumer which will make them less competitive.

What does everyone else think or feel about congestion charging in City Centres?

 

[tigi]

I have mixed feelings too. I live in a rural area and therefore wont be affected unless i come to sunny manchester. I think that it can be a good thing IF the public transport system is excellent. I mean top notch loads of buses trains trams etc etc. If it isnt then its a terrible idea.

I know we need to do something, but I feel yet another tax on motorists is not the answer. We pay a lot to run our cars, I have a car. I need it, i live in the middle of no where. I have also lived in a city where there are no cars (venice) and the transport system has been designed to cope with that but I still had a lot of walking to do!

i think the congestion charge should be about targetting the really busy parts of the city, and an 80 mile radius seems very excessive. I think when it extends that far, people are going to see it as a money making thing and not a genuine attempt at reducing congestion.

tigi

 

[number1kitty]

I think its a bad bad idea! Its not going to cut congestion. Its just another huge bill for the hardworking person. We pay car tax for road improvements and fares to use public transport. That money should be used to improve the services not charge motorists even more.

And lets not forget the extotionate amount they governmenbt take in tax off petrol alone.

Most minimum wage earners that work in shops/offices will be forced to pay £25 a week to get too and from work. Thats if they still have a job because more people choose to shop elsewhere such as the trafford centre or liverpool one.

My partner works for the railways and there would be more jobs eventually, but the improvements won't be made for about 15 years. So in that time we all pay the congestion charge for no reason.

You think 15 years is an exaggeration but there are very few trains that are spare to create more services, and these have to be built, plus the stations they use have to be redesigned to enable these additional services to come through. Plus it takes close to 6 months to train a train driver!

I have been living in a small pokey town for three years that was constantly snarled up with traffic, it would take me some days 30 minutes to travel a mile.

Manchester is not bad traffic wise. You are at least always moving and once you hit the motorway then its a clear run until you want to get off at M62 to the M60. But a congestion charge is never going to make that stretch any better.

I think its disgusting that people who live in Greater Manchester will be forced to stay at home because they cannot afford to visit friends and relatives, leaving older people especially alone defending for themselves because relatives have to watch their money.

I think anyone who thinks more tax is a good idea is way off the planet!

Kate

 

[weezie]

I suffer because of the London congestion charge. Some people are happy to pay it for me to come to them but I am sure I have lost lots of business because of it. Plus I have forgotten to pay it in the past and had to then pay the £50 fine, I was not trying to dodge it, my client paid it, I was just busy and so forgot.

It just spreads the congestion into the surrounding areas. I am so glad that the petition to stop it covering a wider area has worked and plans for extension have been scrapped-does this not suggest it isn't the great plan we were all promised, no one wants it now! It's such a money spinner. All the surrounding areas become incredibly congested as people dodge it causing more pollution and traffic jams. Plus rich people don't give a seconds thought to the congestion charge so it becomes the situation that if you are rich you can drive where you like otherwise you're not allowed in.

VOTE NO. Or you'll regret it! Give them an inch and they will take a mile.

 

[Gilly T]

Do you know what.. neither of your view points had occurred to me at all. What about my Mum.. she lives in the zone and I will have to pay £5 just to drive down to see her.. that's sh*t!!!

Also, what about the small businesses that run along Oldham Road/Manchester Road??? People just won't shop there anymore because they have got to pay £5 just to go 100 years down the road.

I have decided!! The area for this congestion charging is ludicrous.... 80 miles is just stupd and I think everyone should vote no because I bet any money in the world they will move it to the inner ring road instead.

What a F'ing joke...

I heard on the news the other day that a lot of the rail services will have to wait 5 years before they can even ADD any carriages to their existing services because of government red tape. It is just beyond belief. If we had at least a good public transport network now it wouldn't be so bad but we haven't... Some people will have to cross the boundary just to get to the bl**dy train station.

Sorry... a bit angry there wasn't I?

 

[stevemancs]

Its a very bad idea. Manchester is not the only place to be in the northwest and people will just choose to shop / work / live in Leeds, Liverpool, Chester ect ect .... Manchester will just become poorer if the congestion charge comes in, I think.

 

[Susie H]

Well I have mixed views on this, I think 80 miles is excessive the inner ring road would be plenty and I feel that its only fare if, like at Oxford, there is a good park and ride system.
I've had all sorts of people tell me that its not made any difference to London,
But I have to disagree I spent a year bringing National Express coaches into London and the weekends, when the charge was not in force, were by far the worst days of the week.
I also feel that if, like your hubby or a mobile tech you are driving all day with in the charge area rather then driving in and leaving that you should be able to either have an exemption or a greatly reduced charge.
I am sick to the back teeth of our councils and governments saying they are going to do more to help small businesses and then ignoring how much stuff like this is going to hurt that group of people:irked: and yet big companies like NX who can afford those charges are the ones that have the exemptions

 

[Ruth Mills]

Well it sounds like yet another excuse to stealth tax us all to fund yet another legion of bureaucrats who will be responsible for administering the damn thing and milking us for yet more money!

The only conceivably good thing to come out of this will be some lucrative IT work, but even then, I'd feel guilty about working on such a project if it's going to cause such misery and expense for ordinary people in the long term!

 

[Gilly T]

The best thing is they are promising to improve public transport and yet this morning on the local news the tram service from altrincham into the city wasn't in service... yeah right!

I'm going to vote no this time, purely because I think the 80 mile radius is ludicrous and there's no concession for people who are in and out all the time.

If they don't change that then I won't be working in that 80 mile area, simple as.

 

[Sals]

In my opinion it's done very little to alleviate congestion in London, so why should Manchester be any different? A lot of people I know prefer to pay the congestion charge than get on the rubbish trains.

Vote NO.