IPPR Conference - 26 October 2005

Building a consensus on national road pricing:

the challenges ahead

Session 3

The next steps for London

Dick Halle

Transport for London

What I shall talk about today:

• What has happened in London to date

• The effectiveness of measures introduced

• Forecast conditions with the need to take further action

• London as a pilot to help take national road user charging forward

Recent travel trends

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London populationEmploymentTrafficMotoring costs (2004+ DfT projected)Vehicle Km - Major roadsVehicle Km - Minor roadsVehicle Km - Major + Minor roadsBus Passenger KmsUnderground Passenger KmsBus headline fare indexTube headline fare index

Trends in London population, jobs, traffic, public transport use, motoring costs, bus and tube fares

Bus PKms

Underground PKms

Employment

PopulationMinor Roads

Motoring costsMajor Roads

Traffic

Bus fares

Underground fares

Recent road traffic trends

• Travel demand and distance travelled in London has risen in the past 10 years

• Traffic growth has been mainly in the:

• contra-peak direction

• outside the peak periods

• during the evening

• spreading to local roads

• During the working day, TfL and Boroughs have adopted interventions to facilitate people movement at the expense of vehicle movement in places – many restrictions don’t then apply at the weekend

• Spare capacity is being filled up and where usage exceeds capacity we see congestion

Traffic congestion

• The main road network runs at capacity in specific locations at specific time

• In particular congestion is seen along strategic routes and in outer London town centres

Saturday pm off peak IT IS graphWeekday am peak IT IS graph

Delay Measurement(mins per km)

Greater than 21.5 to 21 to 1.5Less than 1No Data

October 2003 Delay - AM Peak (Working days only - Mon to Fri)

Road Network Performance and Research

Information derived from data provided by ITIS Holdingsobtained from vehicles fittedwith GPS devices

Note: - Network shown is ITISlinks on Network of Interest.- AM Peak is 7am to 10am.- Delay measurement is peakspeed compared to night speed (10pm to 6am - free flow) in mins/km- Links with 2 or more observations are shown- Both directions are shown

Delay Measurement(mins per km)

Greater than 21.5 to 21 to 1.5Less than 1No Data

October 2003 Delay - PM Off Peak (Saturdays)

Road Network Performance and Research

Information derived from data provided by ITIS Holdingsobtained from vehicles fittedwith GPS devices

Note: - Network shown is ITISlinks on Network of Interest.- PM Off Peak is 2pm to 4pm.- Delay measurement is peakspeed compared to night speed (10pm to 6am - free flow) in mins/km- All links with one or more observations are included- Both directions are shown

• Signal installations have increased from 3,100 to 4,750 from 1991 to 2003

• An increase in pedestrian crossings and pedestrian phases at traffic signals

• A significant increase in bus lanes as part of bus priority

• A four fold increase in street / road works by utilities companies from ~78,000 to 350,000 per year between 1993 and 2002

Policy interventions have reduced road space

• Central London Congestion Charge

Policy intervention that has ‘increased space available’

The Central London Congestion Charging Scheme

Central London only

Two years on - continued benefits

• Congestion in zone down 30%

• Traffic entering charging zone reduced by 18% - cars down 33%

• However little change in number of person trips to central area

50–60% moved to public transport

20–30% divert round zone 15–25% other adaptations

• Net revenue £100m a year

Total traffic entering the charging zone – during charging hours

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Cars Vans Lorriesand

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Taxis Busesand

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PedalCycles

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Before Charge With Charge

Predicted travel growth

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An extra 4m daily trips by 2025

Note: The historic trend has been fuelled by a number of trends including strong employment growth, lower fares, increase in capacity on underground (JLE) and latterly sharply increasing bus use. Daily trips for main mode of transport used, includes all walking trips.

Future transport trends

Notes:

Includes planned schemes and major infrastructure projects i.e. CTRL, CrossRail, River Crossings, and Intermediate Transit Schemes, plus Congestion Charging Western Extension.

Shows the projected increase in public transport if car trips remain at current levels. Shows the projected increase in car trips taking into account population growth and car ownership/household at current levels. Work is ongoing to further validate and understand recent and projected trend in car trips.

1993-2025 Future Transport Trends

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Possible Impact of policies to limit car trips

Projected increase in car trips

Projected increase in public transport trips7.6m

10.8m

Short Term: optimise Getting the most from the

current network (2004 - ) Real time management Signal control Street and road works Enforcement

Corridor management (2004 -) Bus Priority and enforcement Consistent approach to designing

sections of roads through guidance Approval of schemes on the Strategic

Road Network Funding integrated plans rather than

isolated projects

Medium Term: manage/ regulate demand Smart Measures (2004 onwards) Western Extension (2007) CLoccs re-let with tag and beacon?/ providing more flexibility and improved payment channels (2009/10)

Charging in other congested areas? - tag and beacon schemes in congestion centres and on key strategic routes (2010 onwards)

Actively encouraging modal shift

Short, medium and long term strategies for people movement*Long Term: increase network capacity Distance-based/new Technology Charging? (2014 onwards) Channel Tunnel Rail Link (2008-) Congestion relief on LUL (2010) National Rail Capacity Improvements (2013) CrossRail (2015) and better land use policy

*Links to the Freight Plan are also being made

Optimising the road network

Tif – what role for pilot schemes

To demonstrate:

• Opportunities for policy integration

• Options for new technology

• Impacts of charging outside Central London

• Public acceptability

Why a pilot in London?

Any national scheme has to work in London• 40% of England’s excess congestion is in London• Wide mix of urban and inter-urban conditions

Making use of TfL’s experience and knowledge• Design and assessment• Operating and enforcing a real scheme• Having a real customer base• Charging technology – leading ground breaking trials• Important issues for national/local accountability

TfL’s integrated transport responsibilities

Potential Benefits of Wider Road User Charging in London

Distance based charging (2005 prices, values and deterrents), weekdays only

All motor vehicles charged except buses, coaches and taxis

Area charges changes base congestion change in

in traffic flow mins/km congestion

Central 60p/km -18% 2.3 -32%

working day

Inner 30p/km -20% 1.0 -40%

working day

Outer 15p/km -17% 0.7 -40%

peaks only

…this would facilitate economic growth and the London Plan

Technologies for Road user Charging

London trials of alternative road user charging technologies have shown:

• Cameras plus ANPR effective solution available now for simple charging schemes.

• Tag and beacon technology for use in sensitive urban areas for more flexible charging eg charging by direction or time of day could be developed in short term (by 2009).

• Satellite and mobile phone location systems for ‘specific’ link based distance based charging need further development for affordable accurate use in urban areas (beyond 2010).

Possible Timeline and Charging Basis

2005

CC NowSingle zone

Camera/ANPR

2009

Single zoneTags with

Camera/ANPR

IncentivisedTag take up

2010

Key centresStrategic routes

BridgesTags with

Camera/ANPR

Beyond 2010

GPS-basedRUC across

LondonIncentivisedOBU take-up

Re-

proc

urem

ent o

f C

LoC

CS

/WE

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Options:

1. Single flat rate £8charge per day

2. Charge by:• time of entry/exit• direction of travel• class of vehicle

Charge:

£8 chargePer day

Variable charges By:

• centre • route• bridge• time of entry/exit• direction of travel• class of vehicle

Example charge Rates:

Central: 60p/kmInner: 30p/kmOuter: 15p/km

Unequipped vehiclesPay unattractive flat rate

Moving Forward

Possible ways forward in London to help the DfT take national Road User Charging Forward are:

Developing a demonstration cc scheme using tag and beacon in a congested area, of direct relevance to urban areas outside of London, packaged with improved public transport, walking and cycling, green travel plans and environmental improvements;

Developing a London-wide GPS trial testing not only the technology, but with sufficient volunteers to test behavioural responses

Sharing knowledge on: setting up and running a cc scheme, technology issues, public transport provision and regulation, other complementary measures, in developing pilots elsewhere

We are currently discussing ways to tackle the growing transport problems London with the boroughs and other key stakeholders.

We hope to be considered for TiF because we want to help inform the development of such a significant policy.