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Congestion Charging For Glasgow
Why introduce Congestion Charging to Glasgow?
Congestion charging is, to date, the most effective solution in reducing the amount of vehicles on the roads and its past success has been highlighted in many EU projects. There is limited scope for development to Glasgow's road network. Unlike Edinburgh, Glasgow could not be home to such an attractive form of public transport as a tram network. Introducing a congestion charge to Glasgow would mean that all profits would be invested into Glasgow's transport network in order to make it a safer, more frequent, wider service suitable for all to use.
Past Projects
The results from past projects can be viewed from the link below. This includes both the London Congestion Charge Scheme as well as other European cities. Our predictions were made on the information from such projects.
Congestion Charge - Past Projects
Our Predictions
Gothenburg has similar geography to that of Glasgow. It is also split by a river and has a motorway running alongside. There are slightly less habitants here than in Glasgow. A fixed £1.40/day charge gave and 11% drop in traffic after 6months was the outcome of Gothenburg's congestion charge trials. Since variable charging at higher prices appears to be the best option we predict that using ANPR throughout Glasgow city centre with an inner and outer zone for variable charging, traffic could decrease in volume by 15% after the initial 6months.
TopHow will the Congestion Charge work?
Zone Charging
The inner city centre covers an area of approximately 2 square kilometres. This would be known as zone 1 and there would be a daily charge of £3 for entering this zone between 7.30am and 6.30pm, mon-fri. These times have been chosen to correspond with the travelling times of passengers from the questionnaire results. The zone around the city centre would be known as zone 2 and covers just over 4 square kilometres. There would be a charge of £2 for entering this zone between 7.30am and 6.30pm, mon-fri. A charge of £5 will be incurred for entry to both zones. The charge will not apply on all Bank Holidays.
Reinforcement Cameras
Reinforcement cameras will be present at all 49 zone entry locations. Two camera types will be used. One colour to show the vehicle in relation to its surroundings and one mono-chrome to display the vehicle registration number. Each camera will caver 4 lanes of traffic and is capable of recording over 0.25million vehicles daily. These cameras will be linked to the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) database. This will match all number plates to charge paying vehicles, identify all non-paying vehicles and will automatically issue an £80 fine to these drivers. This fine will be reduced to £40 if received witin 14 days or increases to £120 if not paid within 28days. The system is similar to that run by Capita for the London charging scheme and has a 90% success rate.
The ANPR database and cameras allow for future developments such as the vehicle positioning system or GPS equipment, installed in some new cars, to be automatically linked to this system. This will also allow drivers access to other packages such as NADICS.
Zone Research
Exemptions and Discounts
Residential discounts will apply due to the low percentage of car ownership in Glasgow. There are only 160,000 registered car ownerships city wide - less than 8% of Scotland's total figure. Residents living within a charging zon will be exempt from payment between 10.30am and 3.30pm. A £1 daily charge will be incurred for travelling outwith this time during charging periods. Discounts to all vehicles using the M8 motorway only to bypass through the city will also be given. M8 vehicles passing through both zones will only be liable to pay a £3 charge.
Fleet vehicles, including companies with 20 or more registered vehicles, will also be eligable for discounts. A daily £5 charge will be charged to these companies travelling in one or both zones.
Those eligable for exemption will include Blue Badge Holders, Emergency Services, Doctors/Nurses on call, Roadside rescue vehicles, Buses, taxis and coaches and 2-wheeled vehicles. Alternate fuel vehicles such as LPG and electric vehicles will also be exempt.
TopAnnual Costs and Benefits
Annual Scheme peration cost
Based on the figures from Capita we estimate that the total congestion charge scheme operation cost in the first year will be £145million. This includes £10 million for all administrative and other costs for the year. This figure will decrease in future years.
Annual Benefits
Assuming a 22.5% decrease in the volume of traffic throughout zone 1 and 2, after 1 year, substantial benefits will be made in regards to fuel savings, cost of accident reductions, time savings in congestion and emission levels finally complying with Government objectives. Scenario 2 in our Case Study section calculates that these savings could have a combined total of £59 million in the first year alone.
Congestion Charge Payments
Again in Scenario 2, a breakdown of monthly charges will show that after the first year of operation the congestion charge scheme for Glasgow has the potential to generate £108 million.
© 2004 All rights reserved. Copyright of Derek Weir, Leanne McMillan, Roy MacLean, Hee Dong Oh & Ayman Elsadig
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