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The congestion charge: • s working
Page 14
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Ken Livingstone claims that congestion charging has cut traffic on London's roads by around 25%. With the scheme up and running for two weeks, Jennifer Ball goes out on the road with Young's Brewery to see whether traffic has improved, or whether the brewery will have to return to the alternative mode of transport it's famous for—horsepower.
7.30am: Drivers Alan Todd and Peter James load the truck with beer and wine ready for our journey into the congestion charging zone. As we make our way out of the brewery gates, Todd jokes that the only traffic we have faced so far is inside the brewery yard as all the vehicles struggle to get out onto Wandsworth High Street. We head up past Battersea Bridge and. so far, there have been very few problems. We make our first drop at Pedlars pub In SW11 and head towards the City.
9am: We arrive in Fenchurch Street for our second job about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Todd says that it normally would have taken an hour to get into London, but congestion charging has reduced this dramatically. As we try to reverse up a side street. I realise again the difficulties truck drivers face in the City with narrow streets and pedestrians running across the roads.
Our next delivery is on Leadenhall Street. The roads are still very quiet and the only hurdle that we have to face is a traffic warden, who tells us to move off the yellow line and up the road while we unload. We move 200m to where we have been told to wait, but there appears to be no logic in the traffic warden's demands, Where we were parked previously we were in nobody's way, but in our new spot buses can no longer get past us.
. We head to Aldgate High Street for our next delivery, where the traffic seems slightly heavier: "The problem here is that one side of the roundabout is in the charging zone, while the other isn't, This is our biggest job in the City but, unless there is a loading bay free. there is nowhere to park so we have to stop round the corner and walk down the road with the barrels of beer," says Todd.
We sail down Commercial Street towards the Marylebene Road before heading to the Euston underpass and making our final drop at ljPR Football Club. James says: "I sat In traffic here once for three hours, just trying to get two miles along this street. It used to be absolutely gridlocked and seems far better now."
On our journey home, we come across the first major traffic jam we have seen all day on the King's Road, so we turn off and our driver takes a shortcut back to the brewery • From a passenger's point of view it all seemed to work well, but what does Young's think about congestion charging?
Driver Alan Todd says: "As much as I hate to admit it, congestion charging does seem to have worked. However, it may take another few weeks to see the real effects as some schools are still on holiday. There has been very little traffic on the road today and it has been a smooth journey.
"One of the biggest problems we face aside from congestion charging is parking. There is a serious lack of places to park in the City and we regularly get traffic wardens slapping tickets on our truck as we unload round the back."
His colleague Peter James agrees, adding that he is still waiting to see whether congestion charging will work once London 'returns to normal".
"We still haven't see the full effects of the charging. The Mayor has stopped all road works and changed the traffic lights so that congestion appears better than it was two weeks ago.
'Charging has knocked around an hour off our journey. We will have to wait another couple of months to see how long this will last."
But Bob Ball, Young's transport manager, says that there have already been clear benefits from the charging such as fuel efficiency and time saving.
In addition, Ball says his drivers have been coming back from their runs far less stressed. it is also easier to plan a route as you have a more realistic idea of how long ajoumey will take.
However, he agrees with CM's opinion that goods vehicles should be exempt from the charge.
We do believe that commercial vehicles should be exempt from charges as the fee is to stop unnecessary traffic travelling through the capital. However, we have no choice: delivering to our 50 pubs in the zone is essential.
"There should at least be some sort of concessions for businesses who have fixed sites within the zone. If not, we may be forced to use a horse and cart to deliver; and we still do this around the local pubs in Wandsworth."
Ball wants to see a lifting of some of the London Lorry Ban (LLB) restrictions so that there is a greater time slot for deliveries outside the charging times. He also agrees that parking is a major problem: "Westminster Council should be more tolerant towards commerce in the city as there are few places for trucks to park and then you are only given a 25-minute time slot in which to unload and reload your goods."