I’ve just encountered a little bit of madness buried within the London Congestion charging rules, a shame because otherwise the scheme seems broadly okay. Or to put it another way, it does nothing to reduce volume on the roads so far as I can see, but at least it raises funds that have to be re-spent on improving public transport (*).
Anyway, the madness relates to the rules for residents discounts. I live inside the zone and have just bought a car, and thus registered for the discount. Apparently, I get a 90% discount, but can only pay for 5 days in a row. But……I never drive five days in a row, usually I drive no more than once a week during the charging period. I phoned up to ask why, and was told that it is because the transaction costs mean that it is impossible to charge for one day at a time….
Other than being a pile of nonsense on the transaction costs (80p should be more than enough if the channel choice is right), then surely it is crazy to effectively incentivise me to drive more than I would have. Even if transaction costs were not coverable, that should be covered by subsidising from revenues rather than enabling people to drive more than they would have done.
(*) I see that the mandatory 100% spend on improved public transport expires after 10 years since scheme inception – no doubt there will be plenty of politicians with their eyes on that money when it becomes available.
