Wrote an article today for londonbikers.com about the extension of the congestion charge zone in central London. The interesting thing for me is not the moaning mothers of Kensington but rather the amount of rich kids who’ll get round the charge by buying the latest, most stylish scooter, doing a CBT in short order, and hounding the streets.
The problem isn’t one of scooter snobbery, or even the fact that on the whole I don’t like scooter riders (there are obvious exceptions), it’s the fact that these people will be hurtling around central London with no experience, very little training and thinking they own the road.
Whilst I’ll be enjoying the less congested streets I’m wondering how long it will be before I get rammed by a scooter rider not thinking where they are or what speed they are doing, how long will it be before the accident statistics get to the point where the government ‘must do something’.
We don’t need this kind of attention as the EU are already talking about making the test process more difficult and only available to those who can afford it – but perhaps I agree with them about the CBT not being enough before people can actually ride on the road.
Here’s the article from LB.
Congestion Charge Extension.
19 February 2007, 08:07
by mattcbf600
Feb 19th sees the congestion charge extending west to Bayswater, Notting Hill, North and South Kensington, High Street Kensington, Knightsbridge, Chelsea, Belgravia and Pimlico.
The Mayor has said that since the introduction of the original congestion zone, traffic entering central London during the charging hours has been cut by around 20%. TFL expects a 10-15% reduction in traffic in the new zone, reducing congestion by around 15%.
But many in the new zone reject these claims and say it will actually penalise those who can not afford it. Around 55,000 vehicle owners are included in the new zone – they will receive a 90% discount on the fee, some believe this will lead to more congestion in Central London as those from the new zone return to their cars to commute.
As well as extending the zone west the hours it operates will change, it will now end 30 minutes earlier at 6pm.
On Saturday, up to 50 cars took part in a protest organised by the West London Residents Association – they believe the charge will damage their businesses and cost residents hundreds of pounds a year.
Transport for London on the other hand claims that the Congestion Charge has helped fight pollution, reduce road accidents, and increased the number of cyclists and bikers, as well as turning more and more people to public transport.
TFL’s director of congestion charging Malcom Murray-Clark said, “London still has significant congestion problems.
“Surveys indicate that of all areas adjacent to the zone, congestion is most intense in the west where there are sever delays through the working day”.
Whilst TFL have spent a lot of time assessing the impact on cyclists and public transport no thought appears to have been put into the inevitable increase in bikers. As people turn from their cars and look for alternatives, poorly or little trained riders will seek scooters and other small powered machines to avoid the charge. We already know our bike bays are rammed to the hilt – can they take another scooter explosion this summer?
More novice riders on the road will lead to more accidents, TFL needs to think about it’s policy on access to bus lanes for bikers as well as how it plans to tackle this issue.
