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Number 55 - February 2003 London on the Eve of Congestion Charging By
Wendell Cox My London airport odyssey started a bit before 8:00 am on
Thursday, 13 February. I boarded the Victoria tube line intending to transfer
at Victoria Station to the Gatwick Express that would get me to the American
Airlines counter comfortably in advance of my flight to Raleigh-Durham and then on to St. Louis. Fortunately I allowed an extra hour for the journey. Trouble was soon to rear its ugly head. The train stopped
between stations for a few minutes, then lumbered into Euston station where
an announcement was made to the effect that signaling difficulties at Oxford
Circus were causing delays. There was no indication of the length of delay,
which was a good indication for me to exit the train just as others were
entering, despite the announcement and in an apparent effort to eclipse Tokyo
subway loading standards. Being familiar with London’s geography, I set off on a three
block walk to Euston Square Station, where I could catch the Circle Line, by
which I could access Victoria Station in either direction, though
circuitously, while avoiding the Oxford Circus area. After purchasing my
ticket and passing through the entry gate there came an announcement to the
effect that there were long delays on the Circle Line in both directions. So,
I forfeited my second public transport fare and returned to Euston Station
where I and perhaps 200 other people waited in the Taxi queue that testified
to the shortage of supply relative to demand. Eventually I got my cab and had the usual enjoyable (really) ride
with a professional who called me “Guv,” a common practice among London taxi
drivers. The four mile trip took 15 minutes, an ungodly slow 16 miles per
hour, but compared to the competition it was rocket-like. One and one-half
hours later I entered the station. Then my luck changed. The journey by train
to Gatwick was completed without further incident or delay. Then, my flight
took off an hour before the security alert that closed the airport. This is a story likely to be repeated over and over after 17
February, when Mayor Ken Livingstone’s congestion charge takes effect. From
that date, people who enter central London by car during the day will have to
pay a more than $8.00 charge for the privilege. The Mayor promises to use the
proceeds to improve public transport so that the those deterred by the high
price will find alternative access by public transport a reasonable
alternative. It is not. For years Londoner’s have been putting up with
overcrowded public transport services. Worst of all has been the sprawling
underground (metro or subway) system, which has seen ridership increase well
beyond the capability of a system that has long had serious reliability
problems. The congestion charge would make a lot more sense if the public
transport improvements had preceded it. The system is in no position to take
the additional demand likely to be created by placing the price of mobility
to the core beyond the means of the most affluent and those on bulbous
corporate expense accounts. Londoner’s are being forced to trade the freedom of mobility
(restricted as it is by the market of travel behavior) for the promise of
public transport improvements that are far beyond the capability of
congestion charge revenues to deliver. This is likely to be one of the most
significant international sales of the Brooklyn Bridge, so it is appropriate
that it should be under the direction of former New Yorker Bob Kiley, the
Mayor’s public transport czar. What effect the congestion charge will have on London’s traffic
or its employment levels is not yet clear. But what is clear is that that the
public transport promises cannot be delivered. Like the Soviet planners
merciful decades ago, London’s transport administration seems to have
determined that it won’t matter if the bread lines of public transport get
just a bit longer.
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