Selling congestion charging

The result of Edinburgh's referendum on congestion charges was as predictable as the Pope's Catholicism, bears' toileting habits or the Shiite victory in Iraq's election. Voters rejected the proposals by three to one. This was not a referendum on whether global warming is a bad t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPlanning (London, England) no. 1609; p. 16
Main Author Hague, Cliff
Format Magazine Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Haymarket Business Publications Ltd 04.03.2005
Subjects
Councils
Local elections
Proposals
Public transportation
Referendums
Traffic congestion
Transportation planning
United Kingdom > UK
Scotland
Edinburgh Scotland
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The result of Edinburgh's referendum on congestion charges was as predictable as the Pope's Catholicism, bears' toileting habits or the Shiite victory in Iraq's election. Voters rejected the proposals by three to one. This was not a referendum on whether global warming is a bad thing and should something be done about it, so why did anyone expect the car-owning majority to vote to increase motoring costs? The answer was supposed to be so that they will leave the car at home and use improved public transport. This calculus ignored the fact that most car-users have consciously chosen to avoid using public transport, except as a last resort. Furthermore, those anchored in their cars and breathing the fumes from stationary vehicles are commuters from Fife, West Lothian, Midlothian, East Lothian and beyond, none of whom had a vote in the referendum anyway. In light of the Edinburgh referendum there seems to be a consensus that congestion charging is now a dead duck in UK cities for the foreseeable future.
Bibliography:content type line 24
ObjectType-Commentary-1
SourceType-Magazines-1
ISSN:1467-2073