Policy News - October 6, 2004

Easing traffic and air pollution in London

London is a city of superlatives: best theater, worst traffic, and most polluted air in Europe. However, “congestion charging”, which has been in effect for almost two years, may be improving the city’s air while reducing traffic, encouraging purchases of energy-efficient automobiles, and funding public transportation, according to preliminary results presented at the World Clean Air and Environmental Protection Congress held in London in August.

Rachel Petkewich In London, C is for congestion charge. Drivers must pay a daily fee to bring their cars into certain parts of the city on weekdays.

As of February 1, 2003, drivers who venture within an 8-square-mile area of Central London, bordered by the Inner Ring Road, on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. must pay a £5 fee. Signs emblazoned with a large red C mark the pay-as-you-go streets.

“Congestion charging is a way of ensuring that those using valuable and congested road space make a financial contribution,” according to Transport for London, the city’s transport authority.

Certain vehicles are exempt from the charge—including taxis and emergency vehicles. Cameras monitor license plates. The owners of nonexempt vehicles who fail to pay the daily fee can be slapped with hefty fines. All the money collected pays for improvements to the bus and underground rail systems.

The program has been generally viewed as a success, and in August, London’s mayor Ken Livingstone proposed expanding the congestion-charge area into Kensington, Chelsea, and Westminster. If accepted, charges in the new area would go into effect in 2006.

London is not the first city to implement congestion charges. Singapore officials established their system in 1975 and updated it to electronic road pricing in 1998. Other cities have instituted similar charging systems on smaller scales.

Traffic reductions and changes in fleet composition in London have exceeded expectations, says Sean Beevers, a modeler in the Environmental Research Group at King’s College London. For the past 10 years, Beevers and his colleagues have been taking air measurements and modeling air quality around the city with the London Air Quality Network, a series of monitoring stations. Car and heavy-truck traffic in the area decreased by 30 and 11%, respectively, whereas bus and taxi traffic increased by 20 and 13%, respectively. Average car speeds were improved by 20%.

This kind of traffic management gets cars moving in central London, and increased speed really reduces the pollutant emissions per kilometer traveled, the researchers report. As a result, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter less than 10 micrometers in diameter each decreased by 12%, and CO₂ levels plummeted by 20%. The researchers believe that the increase in traffic speeds is at least as effective at reducing emissions as fewer cars on the road or improvements in vehicle technology between 2002 and 2003.

“Certain people have to drive in London, such as delivery trucks, so let’s create an incentive for them to bring the cleanest vehicle,” says Colin Matthews, head of TransportEnergy Programmes at the Energy Saving Trust, a U.K. nonprofit organization. He says people have bought hybrids and other clean cars, heavy trucks, and vans to take advantage of the discount available. Free-flowing traffic also reduced the number of accidents, he adds.

Tom Downs, president of the U.S. nonprofit group Eno Transportation, notes that the key to success was to beef up public transport first. “London proved [cities] can’t simply price road access without creating options in advance.” —RACHEL PETKEWICH