please empty your brain below
Not sure what the current thinking is in TfL HQ or City Hall on this but I know they've hugely increased the road user charging tech team size and budget over the last year or so. Perhaps that money would have been better spent looking after the central line infrastructure!
2) Plant more trees. London will need the shade within 25 years.
3) Plant more (heat resistant) trees. The centre of town will be become much hotter all year round.
Actually these devices do exist. I know as I have one. I recently moved my car insurance to one where the premium is based on the number of miles I drive, and they do that by giving you a little box you plug into your car's diagnostic port. I can track all my driving using its app - even locate my car if I don't know where it is.
Don't know quite how it works but I assume it has a mobile connection to send data from the car to the company.
So it can be done. With caveats. The solution I was given is not suitable for every car. And even if it was concept of rolling it out to everyone in the country, well that's a serious challenge. I suspect the answer will be that a tracker would be optional with people with suitable vehicles having to pay higher fixed rates if they don't have one. But try getting that through the "wAr oN mOTRistS" lobby...
I suspect there are challenges with the fine for not returning a bike, but if those can be overcome, having Santander bikes as part of the daily cap feels like it would increase usage and maybe go some way to solving the last mile problem.
London's over 60s already get a very generous travel deal, can't see 24 hour free travel being a sensible use of finances.
I do get the impression few candidates talk to TfL first about their plans to understand the implications before making a specific pledge. The current Mayor was just as bad; both ULEZ and the various fares freezes could have been rather more effective if he had been prepared to be more flexible.
dg writes: Sure, and so does Bow Road. My beef is with the word ‘all’.
The non-commitment words which politicians love, 'explore', 'work with', 'design', 'prioritise', 'ensure', 'consult'.
What counts as a 'station interchange' and the definition of 'nearby'.
I do get the impression few candidates talk to TfL first about their plans to understand the implications before making a specific pledge.
I believe this is the case.
Actually Khan is one of the better ones. The story goes that, prior to being elected for the first time, at the last minute he, or one of his team, thought they better check before announcing a commitment to freeze fares.
Unfortunately, no-one sufficiently senior was immediately available. Rather than wait for a definitive opinion they went ahead and promised a fare freeze. Had they have spoken to someone sufficiently senior they would have been told that it would be impossible to freeze National Rail fares without a massive subsidy and Travelcards would also be seriously revenue negative if the cost was frozen due to the need to pay the National Rail element - which would not be frozen. Waiting for a proper answer would have saved some embarrassment and potential attack lines from rival candidates.
My favourite of all time is Justine Greening when she was a prospective MP announcing that if elected she would tell TfL to add an extra carriage (old 'C' stock not the current trains) to Circle line and Wimbledon-Edgware Rd trains. Problematic on so many levels that one just does not know where to begin.
The fact that Project Detroit exists within TfL with over 100 staff working on it, ostentatiously to supersede the current outsourced IT CC/ULEZ system by the end of 2026, however has an option for road pricing embedded within it, thus it is simply coincidental then?! Please refer to a TfL FoI response, 16 Jan 2024.
The envisaged scheme (that officially doesn't exist) envisages a complex structure, based on time of day, the level of congestion, the exact make of car, etc., etc.
There is a very simple way to invoke road pricing, namely taking the odometer reading at regular intervals. This is already done for four+ year old cars as part of the MOT. Simple extend reading odometers to all vehicles (at whatever time interval is appropriate), and hey presto, problem solved.
Anon, that would be because TfL is working on new road charging tech to integrate the CC, LEZ and ULEZ on a single 'platform'.
Singapore's equivalent of the CC runs on gantries but each vehicle requires a device (used to just be a faceless box but now has a touch screen). I'd imagine that something like that could be provided if they really wanted pay-per-mile.
Peewee, the sheer amount of the deposit would probably constrain it to still being contactless but what would be nice is an integrated cap... maybe a feature where you could tap your Oyster Card after paying to 'link' your trip to it, despite actually paying via contactless.
Converting 25% of parking spaces to other uses can be done... just requires some political will. Amsterdam is doing something similar (which is probably unsurprising), but so is Paris removing a lot of on-street parking.
Relocating loading bays from bus lanes would also be a big plus.
Can you explain a little more about why you have severe practical doubts about this one? It feels like it is very much killing two birds with one stone in terms of some nudge policy:
a) it disincentivises car-driving in built-up areas
b) it attempts to clear hire bikes from pavements, where they are a genuine nuisance/obstacle in so many instances.
It can't be difficult for the software/apps for Lime bikes and so on to refuse to end your ride unless you've parked your bike in a designated area, or only if you've taken a photo to show that doing so isn't possible. Providing more designated areas helps with this.
Maybe this is only a zone 1 issue rather than London-wide, but it's a pretty decent target as far as I can tell. My own council in zone 3 is already putting this into practice: they intend to convert one of the parking spots on my street into a designated hire bike space.
It's the percentage I take issue with - it's inappropriately high for many parts of London.
Road Charging - Been kicking the concept of that around for years, probably since at least 1980 (we mentioned in in economics at college and it is done in some places but not really pay per mile). Easiest is Telematics and put it in HGVs , PCVs and PHVs/Taxis to start with. Ideally the system would be national but local authorities could set their own rates. Would really have be on a point to pont basis As I dont want to be chaged half a mile just for going round the vauxhall one way system As a spin off telematics can identify stolen vehicles, so it might be a sell to ins cos and ranger rover owners in Chigwell
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