Road pricing dependent on make of vehicle
Stuart Black | 04.12.2006 17:57 | Analysis | Climate Chaos | London
Since road pricing in the UK is inevitable and the reasons are to deal with congestion and to limit carbon pollution damage it seem fair to have a charge for use of roads dependent on how environmental a vehicle is much like Livingstone's proposed pollution charge but with a pay per mile levy built in as well. This could limit the charge on those driving environmentally friendlier vehicles.
Road pricing seems now to be a certainty in the United Kingdom but since the charge is to limit congestion and reduce pollution there ought to be a variable charge dependent on how
environmentally sound a vehicle is. Such as inclusion into road pricing could encourage purchasers of cars to choose more environmentally friendly models and manufacntures to make more environmentally friendly cars. It would also seem pertinent to both improve railway networks as well as subsidising the cost of travelling on the railways further and also limiting the profit margins of railway companies to enable more affordable rail travel or renationalising the railways to enabler a fairer fare. Any introduction of road pricing ought also to include a time component making it cheaper to use a road at particular times of the day. Finally, a system of varying the number of lanes accommodating cars going in a particular direction such that where there are three or four lanes going in each direction the number of lanes is varied to accommodate the extra traffic going into a city area in the morning and out of the city at rush hour in the evening could also reduce congestion.
environmentally sound a vehicle is. Such as inclusion into road pricing could encourage purchasers of cars to choose more environmentally friendly models and manufacntures to make more environmentally friendly cars. It would also seem pertinent to both improve railway networks as well as subsidising the cost of travelling on the railways further and also limiting the profit margins of railway companies to enable more affordable rail travel or renationalising the railways to enabler a fairer fare. Any introduction of road pricing ought also to include a time component making it cheaper to use a road at particular times of the day. Finally, a system of varying the number of lanes accommodating cars going in a particular direction such that where there are three or four lanes going in each direction the number of lanes is varied to accommodate the extra traffic going into a city area in the morning and out of the city at rush hour in the evening could also reduce congestion.
Stuart Black
e-mail:
scribbleabc2001@yahoo.co.uk