Congestion charging paradox is becoming quite the problem for Boris Johnson - and the rest of us too…

From the Mayor of London’s most recent transport plan it looks like the inherent can’t-win dynamic that lies at the core of the congestion charging concept is starting to cause some mild frustration to say the least. The situation is simple: Boris’s budgets are facing a serious shortfall, while congestion in the country’s economic heart looks set to rise unacceptably by 2020 despite the introduction of more buses, cycling routes and all the other measures that Johnson had planned. So Boris needs to raise some extra cash from somewhere, and also to think of additional measures to reduce jams and pollution: surely a congestion charge plan should be considered a godsend in such a situation?

Well, in theory it certainly is - but for one major, and very simple, obstacle: it is generally a very unpopular measure, and ultimately populist politicians like Johnson quite like to give the people what they want. It is this inherent unpopularity of the scheme that seems very difficult to surmount, despite the fact that almost all motorists who oppose the charge would probably also recognise that a problem with congestion and pollution needs tackling, and soon.

Herein lies the key problem - that while we generally tend to acknowledge that something needs to be done, we are dogmatically opposed to any solution that really tests our commitment beyond mere lip service. In other words; we uncompromisingly recognise the necessity of a solution, but only if someone else can pay for it.

Edinburgh and Manchester’s recent public rejection of a congestion charge scheme illustrates exactly where we are on the public perception of such schemes (Manchester voted nearly 4 to 1 against for example). Therefore though Boris publicly seems unwilling to make any concessions to expanding congestion charging schemes, his transport strategy hints that such a choice represents actually quite a sensible option, but in the end it is all quite irrelevant until a more pressing concern is tackled: that of public support for such a programme. After all, what’s the point in forcing through a measure which will then last only a year or two before the next populist Mayor comes in to repeal it (just as Johnson did to Ken Livingstone)?

Ultimately the real challenge that both Johnson’s office, and the government, must recognise is that far more public discussion and information on our cities’ transport situations is required. At this point we currently face a situation where there lies a great disparity between the knowledge contained in specialists’ reports on the challenges we must tackle, and the public’s level of access to such info in more digestible formats. Until we can rectify this we will always shoot ourselves in the foot by shackling the options available to politicians by virtue of our own unwillingness to understand that no workable and viable transport arrangement can ever come either easy, or cheap.

Dejan Levi

Boris Johnson, congestion charges, Dejan Levi, London transport, public transport, TfL