What is the congestion charge?
Well, for those who don't know, it's a scheme that charges
motorists on a daily basis if they enter central London. It
is seen as the only way to reduce traffic congestion as improving
the roads simply invites more traffic in.
First and foremost, the good news is that motorcycles
and mopeds are exempt !! Cars, vans etc initially had to pay
£5 a day which was recently increased to an eye-watering £8 a day!
As bikes are exmpt this should be great
news
for us as not only should there be less traffic on the roads,
thus speeding up our journeys, but public transport will
be even worse as those effectively kicked out of their
cars will be taking the trains, tubes and buses.
However, the downside is that as more people have seen the light and converted to two wheels, central London bike parks have become all but impossible to park in except for those riders getting there extremely early.
Congestion charge background:
News: 17 February 2003
That's it - the London Congestion Charge has now arrived!
News: 4 November 2002
You'll have heard the ads on the radio about the Congestion
Charge - now there's an official Congestion Charge website
at www.cclondon.com.
News: 9 September 2002
The congestion charge will go ahead from February 17 2003.
from then, between 7am and 6:30pm Monday to Friday, motorists
will have to pay £5 to enter central London.
Bikes are exempt - hooray !
News: 31 July 2002
Today it was announced that Mayor Livingstone's plan to
impose a £5-a-day charge to drive into central London
will go-ahead.
We think this has go to be good news for bikers and scooter
riders as the streets are going to be quieter, we can leave
for work later so have longer in bed in the morning!
But it is all good news? will the charge encourage more
people onto 2 wheels thus making it even harder to park
in town ?
There's no need to give full details on this site as they
can be found here.
See a map
of the zone as a PDF
And here's
a list
of exemptions.
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