I promised you I’d get back to you with news of the Manchester congestion charge, I know it’s been a while coming but I’ve been taking time to work out what I have to say.
In case you don’t already know last Friday, 12th December Manchester voting overwhelmingly against the proposed charging system. After the announcement Lord Peter Smith, leader of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, declared the decision was “a vote no to improvements on Metrolink, on railways and on buses”.
This may sound like sour grapes, but does he have a point? Are people unwilling to give up their cars, or was this just one charge too far for people feeling the pressure in cash-strapped times? Are people fundamentally opposed to change or were they not convinced that the improvements were going to really impact on their lives?
I don’t have any answers for you (sorry!), but maybe there is a case of chicken and egg here. People need to see improvements and feel them working to understand that more will happen and it will really benefit them, but without the money from a congestion charge how will those improvements be made? I hope that Manchester will continue to work at these issues and come out the other end with the public transport network that they need.
Just today when reading up on the congestion charge in Manchester I found out that Durham City announced yesterday it was scrapping plans to extend their congestion charging system. In a move that is apparently unrelated to last Friday’s news, the council decided a congestion charge would be dissuade visitors and so would be detrimental to the city. We’ll just have to wait and see if any others follow suit and what their Plan B for reducing congestion might be.