London could be revolutionised with an Oyster-card system for drivers in the capital
Not since the advent of the motorcar a century ago have London’s roads undergone such rapid change. Some of this is driven by technology – electric cars, e-bikes, e-scooters – and some by policy changes to tackle the city’s carbon emissions.The latest is the Mayor of London plan to expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), from the north and south circular roads to the whole of Greater London, before the next mayoral election in 2024.
For London’s environment this is good news. But it doesn’t help motorists navigating gridlocked roads. Today, London’s drivers spend more than 140 hours every year sitting in traffic – at a cumulative cost to the economy of £5.1bn annually – and they run a gauntlet of potholes that would stretch the length of 104 Premier League football pitches. Transport for London has 45 major road structures relying on interim safety measures due to a lack of funding for maintenance.
The expansion of ULEZ will provide some extra cash in the short-term, but as it begins to achieve its aims, this will slow to a trickle. The decline has already begun. When the ULEZ was expanded to the north and south circular roads last year, forecasters thought that about 20 per cent of vehicles would fail to meet the emission standards and have to pay the charge. The actual figure turned out to be just eight per cent.
We need a new contract with motorists: they need quicker journeys, and guaranteed levels of investment in London’s road network. London has been a trailblazer when it comes to innovation in transport – from congestion charging to the Oyster card. A single integrated zonal road charging scheme could build on this experience.
The solution must tackle congestion as well as air quality. With three main zones – a central zone equivalent to the congestion charge, an inner zone from the north and south circular roads and an outer zone covering the rest of London – we could raise £400m to improve our transport network. On average, in outer London, this would come in at the price of a single bus ticket each day, with more polluting vehicles paying more.
Around one-third of car trips in London could be walked in less than 25 minutes, two-thirds cycled in 20, but that’s not an option for everyone. The scheme should be designed with targeted exemptions and discounts, including for disabled people, those on lower incomes, and those living in areas with lower levels of public transport. A single integrated scheme could mimic the Oyster Card with weekly and monthly fare capping.
It could revolutionise the way we think about moving around the capital. Why not reimagine the pledge made by Ken Livingstone when he introduced the original Congestion Charge? He wanted every Londoner to be within 400 metres of a bus stop. What if every Londoner was within 400 metres of a shared bicycle or an electric car club vehicle?
The politics of this is complicated. The distance-based charging system the Mayor wants to introduce could struggle to materialise. London’s plans could be overtaken if the Treasury develops a national scheme to replace lost fuel duty revenue. With that in mind perhaps the next best step would be for the Mayor to transform his ULEZ expansion plans into a sustainable, integrated, zonal scheme.