UK Pricing Seen as Anti-Road

A fiasco over taking a lane on the A24 arterial south of London for buses-only, together with an upwelling of skepticism about the anti-motorist bent of the Blair Labour Govt has caused it to play down plans to push road pricing. Transport is just one responsibility of the minister in charge John Prescott, but he has taken such a political battering recently that he was told by PM Blair to keep out of it for a while, and delegate responsibility to a junior minister Gig MacDonald. He in turn suggested the govt was backing away from pricing saying Labour would now concentrate on making cars more affordable and backing schemes to reduce pollution. The greens interpreted this as a “U-turn” after earlier strong talk from Prescott of reducing the use of cars and vehicle-miles-traveled through aggressive anti-auto parking and toll policies.

The Blair govt has always said however that it will leave the initiative for road pricing to local government. Anthony May of the Inst Transp Studies at Leeds Univ tells us the greatest potential for pricing is inner London where a business group London First supports pricing as a means of relieving congestion and reviving business. A lot depends, he says, on mayoral elections. The candidate who is presently leading in opinion polls, Ken Livingston, has been a strong exponent of tolls, but the Blair-supported candidate, Frank Dobson, has avoided the issue. One scheme would impose ring tolls on entry into the very center of London at about a 4km to 5km radius. May’s modelling suggests a ring toll may not be the best arrangement. (Contact A. May 44 113 233 6610 a.d.may@its.leeds.ac.uk)