Business owners and drivers in London have warned New York City that if it adopts a congestion charge like the one the capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, supported on a recent trip to the United States, it would suffer greatly.
Yesterday, the storied American metropolis unveiled plans to divide up the Big Apple and impose fees of up to $23 (£18.95) to enter downtown Manhattan in an effort to reduce the number of vehicles clogging its congested highways.
In an effort to earn billions, New York Governor Kathy Hochul is moving forward with the divisive concept, following in the footsteps of Transport for London in London, which has generated more than £4 billion from the congestion charge since 2003.
The plans came shortly after Sadiq Khan, who is a strong supporter of charging drivers for pollution caused by their vehicles, visited New York City as part of his $34,000 taxpayer-funded trip to the United States.
Mr. Khan had been gushingly praising the congestion charge in the capital throughout the visit, telling reporters that it had been a “huge success” and was essential in big cities to reduce traffic and pollution.
However, local businesses and drivers have expressed concern about the severe effects the extra tax has had on the city, given that millions of automobiles are still registered in the congestion zone each month.
The Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ), Khan’s second anti-motorist pet project, has come under fire from experts who contend that it has had little effect on emissions.
Researchers from Imperial College London discovered the contentious programme only reduced nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels by 3% and ozone levels by “insignificant” amounts in November of last year (O3).
Amazingly, despite the ULEZ going into effect, air quality actually became worse at several locations around the city.
The Federation of Small Businesses warned the Mayor in a letter last month that extending his (ULEZ) programme to significant portions of Greater London in 2023 might mean the demise of regional business owners.
Mr. Khan was also cautioned by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry that hasty initiatives “that fail to account for business’ needs would have bad effects for our city.”
Meanwhile, local residents and business owners have shared with MailOnline how their lives and businesses have already suffered due to lack of business, with some even stating that “our future is in jeopardy.”
Some small company owners, including those of hair salons, restaurants, and dry cleaners, report that their profits have decreased by as much as 70%.
The introduction of the £15 levy to weekends, according to business owners in Clerkenwell, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of the zone, has been a particular setback.
Prior to the coronavirus, weekends were exempt from the price. However, Mr. Khan increased the fee to include nights and weekends during the epidemic.
The nighttime hours were scaled down to pre-pandemic hours in December of last year, finishing at 6pm instead of 10pm. It is now charged to vehicles accessing the area between noon and six o’clock.
The 45-year-old manager of Kennedy’s of Goswell Road, a fish and chip store in Clerkenwell, central London, said: “We are concerned because it is preventing people from coming here.”
Like it used to be, it should be free on weekends when people are likely to be out and about. Compared to before they eliminated the weekend exemptions, we had around 70% less clients.
“We had more than ten employees working here before the transition, but today there is only one.” I’m feeling awful about it. Given the rising costs of everything else, I feel as if I have no money. Weekends need to be unrestricted.
Owner of The Craftmens Barber on Goswell Road, 32-year-old Umut Gulbeyaz, said, “I live in Hertfordshire and I can’t drive to work.”
“If I could drive, it would take me about 40 minutes, but due to the fee, I use the train, which now takes about an hour and a half, and there are often strikes,” the traveller said.
“Many individuals don’t want to use the train since it is their own private place, much like their automobile.” The elimination of the weekend exception has had a significant negative impact on our enterprises. About half of what we did previously is being taken.
“It’s not a lot of money, but if someone comes in for a haircut, they have to pay an additional £15,” the person said.
Owner of Belmond Barbers in Barbican, Cesur Eren, 41, said: “Of sure it is harming us.” It is relevant during the daytime when individuals wish to visit cities.
We’re open on Saturdays, and sometimes my family and friends would travel here to get haircuts when it was free on Saturdays, he added. That is not feasible right now.
“There are moments when I feel like I should really be driving to deliver items, but that is also not feasible.” I get them, which is more slowly. Since the epidemic, trade has decreased by around a third.
“That is partially due to fewer people visiting the city, but having the tax in place on weekends is also a factor.”
The manager of Fare Italian on Old Street, Rory Sandresegara, 31, thinks the congestion fee is a “wonderful thing.” But he concedes that it has had an effect on the company.
“The congestion charge massively affects our trade,” he said, adding that it is difficult to track. Although it significantly impacts our trade, in my opinion, it is generally a good thing.
‘It is severely harming us since clients can’t park close or, if they do, they have to pay,’ said Mahmud Alam, 30, owner of A&Z Dry Cleaners on Old Street.
The majority of our clients are from Hackney, which is beyond the restricted area. They cannot bring their autos on the weekends.
Naturally, I’m concerned about it. Government assistance is necessary for the firm; otherwise, we risk losing clients. The fee has to be reinstated only during the workweek.
Before they started charging on the weekends, Saturdays were quite crowded. Saturday today, yet there isn’t a client in the store right now. Future is in jeopardy.
Others who reside in cities but do not own enterprises
I reside in this area, and it greatly affects me, said Ann Bearpark, 63, a Newham Council employee who works and lives in Clerkenwell on Chequer Street. My two daughters visit me and help me carry my groceries even though they live outside of London.
Everyone who has elderly family members who are unable to carry their groceries is impacted and must pay each time. Every time my kids come over to help, it costs them.
“It has ruined commerce.” Road closures where pedestrianisation is taking place are also having a significant impact. The congestion fee, in my opinion, is ineffective.
In an effort to lessen congestion, they have imposed it and closed numerous roads in the area. All they have done is increase congestion by pushing people onto the main roads.
‘Sometimes it takes 20 minutes to get round Old Street roundabout at weekends. London is not a city for drivers any more. It is a city for cyclists but they are the most dangerous group on the road.’
It comes as one survey conducted by the Federation of Small Businesses showed more than three quarters of those firms within London opposed proposals to expand the Ulez.
Bob Golbert, 56, who runs his own coffee van delivering hot food and drinks to dozens businesses in north west London, warned he could go bust if Mr Khan’s plans to expand the Ulez zone are given the green light.
He told Harrow Times: ‘People say ‘oh it’s only a few coffees’ but it all adds up, it’ll be thousands of pounds.
‘We’re on tight margins as it is, we’re expecting a huge recession. This might just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
‘The mayor either hasn’t thought it out properly, or he doesn’t care. I’d really like to ask him which it is.
‘It reminds me of the old mafia films where they come up to you and, even if you don’t have the money they just say ‘f*** you, pay me’.’
Businesses have warned they are facing a two-pronged assault as speculation intensifies that the Ulez zone will be expanded to cover all of London in 2023.
Rowena Howie, Federation of Small Business London Policy Chair said: ‘The expansion of ULEZ will negatively impact thousands of small businesses through a myriad of issues including but not limited to customers choosing not to travel, businesses not being able to provide services in London and employees experiencing increased costs.
‘To put these additional pressures on small businesses at a time when business has been adversely impacted by COVID-19 restrictions, where uncertainty and planning and reliance on supply chains has been further interrupted by new international trade agreements and where the energy crisis has further pushed up the cost of doing business, will be too much for some to bear.’
Mr Khan’s critics have warned that his plans to push through an expanded Ulez zone amid a cost-of-living crisis could be hugely detrimental to low-income families and the final nail in the coffin to vulnerable businesses.
Setting out a raft of his assembly’s own alternatives, Conservative mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey, said: ‘Londoners are right to expect serious action to clean up the city’s air, but the Mayor’s £200m London-wide ULEZ expansion fails to deliver.
‘The Mayor’s own study found the impact would be negligible at most. Worse still, the policy punishes those who cannot afford to upgrade their vehicles in the middle of a cost of living crisis.
‘If the Mayor wants to improve London’s air quality, he needs to abandon his low-impact high-cost ULEZ expansion and consider alternatives.’
Richard Burge, Chief Executive of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, added: ‘We are very pleased to see that TfL and the Mayor of London are taking steps to reduce air pollution in London, but we urge both parties to consider the impact of these proposals on London businesses which are the lifeblood of the capital’s economy.
‘Policies that are hurried and fail to account for companies’ needs will eventually have bad repercussions for our city, both in the short and longer term.’
The congestion charge was implemented in 2003 with the intention of reducing excessive traffic and lowering air and pollution in central London.
It also quickly proved to be a respectable cash cow and a useful means to finance the city’s transportation network.
By July 2005, the fee had increased from £5 to £8 per day, and in its first ten years, it had brought in more than £1.3 billion in gross revenue for TFL.
The number of vehicles subject to the congestion charge each day was reduced in 2011 with the elimination of the Western zone.
The number of cars that were confirmed to have been in the congestion zone in July was higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to TFL statistics released each month.
According to their data, more than 16.8 million vehicles have been “observed during charging hours” inside the congestion zone since the year 2022 began.
In addition to fuel duty, vehicle excise duty, parking fees, residents parking permit fees, and the contribution from council tax allegedly for roads, Luke Bosdet, an AA spokesman, told MailOnline that the congestion charge is essentially a tax. This is in addition to the millions of dollars in fines that London authorities collect.
The problem is that, despite Cambridge and other cities’ expanded park and ride and park and cycle programmes’ enormous success in reducing traffic, London has no interest in adopting similar policies.
Authorities in the capital have grown so reliant on the revenue from the vehicles they claim to want to outlaw that it is obvious that the congestion charge is nothing more than another way for drivers to make money.
The current congestion charge is a daily fee of £15 for vehicles passing through the restricted area during certain hours. For qualifying locals, a 90% discount is offered.
According to the transport authority’s annual records, TFL has collected more over £4.2 billion in gross money since 2003 as a result of the congestion charge (combined with Ulez fees from 2019).
Vehicles that violate the Ulez and go through the congestion charge zone must pay two different fines.
From August of next year, TfL is considering extending the region to include all of Greater London, including Bromley, Wembley, Croydon, Kingston Upon Thames, and Ealing.
Families living in Dartford who commute to Bexley will have to pay an additional £12.50 per day to drive in the ULEZ, adding to the strain on families already struggling to make ends meet.
More cars being driven in the zone that comply with the emission regulations than before the extension was put in place, according to TfL’s six-month report on the Ulez expansion that was released last month.
In the months before to October, 85% of cars used on the North and South Circular Roads complied with Ulez regulations. That percentage increased to 94% once the extension went into effect on October 25th, according to the statement.
According to TfL, traffic volumes had also decreased by 2%, with about 21,000 fewer vehicles on London’s roads on an average day.
Numbers of diesel vehicles, the vehicles the mayor is desperately trying to get off the streets of the capital, have decreased by 44,000 a day, or 20%, since the weeks before the ULEZ was extended.
The Department for Transport had previously announced earlier this month that first-quarter diesel vehicle ownership in London had decreased by a quarter compared to the same period last year.
The report reveals that toxic emissions, which have been connected to thousands of premature deaths throughout Europe, have not significantly decreased since the zone was expanded, despite the fact that there are more compliant vehicles on the road, there is less traffic, and fewer people own diesel cars in the capital.
In reality, the data demonstrates that nitrogen dioxide emissions in central London have decreased farther from goals after the October extension.
TfL’s analysis compares roadside emissions inside the ULEZ to predicted statistics on if it had not been implemented at all in 2019. It does not demonstrate like-for-like reductions in emission levels.