Coming to a capital city near you

[Pwalo]

http://stuff.co.nz/4485135a10.html.

Just imgine the costs involved with setting this scheme up, and then monitoring it.

Looks like my rates will be a bit bigger, along with my petrol bills.

[Dino]

I presume that this will be on top of the 5 - 10 cents a litre tax to go towards public transport?

Who will win the race to get all our money first, the government or our councils??

.

[JimO]

fukkem.......

[henry]

They do it in London and it works fine.

[Number One]

BULLSHIT mutha fuckers!

ALL that supposed *investment* and still the public transport system in Welly SUCKS and it is constantly running late too, in my experience everytime I needed to be on time it was always late and I got sick to death of all that extra stress OR you have to plan to leave MUCH earlier than you need to just so you can guarantee you'll get where you need to in time. If they want people to use it they should make it better AND cheaper - oh and better does not mean chucking a few newer flasher looking train cabs on the tracks either.

BTW - It worked out cheaper for me to take my car to work than it did to take the bus and then train that I would have to to get to work - FARK that! With the bike it's now EVEN cheaper again...might be time to get an adventure machine if they bring this in...

[Slingshot]

They do it in London and it works fine.

They've got the infrastructure to support it though, that's something we lack in Wellington.

[TOTO]

There was research study done in Massey University that I took part of and they introduced the idea to us. It is planned to have a charge of $6 to get into any road including motorway in a certain cordon area. If you just get on the motorway and drive trough the cordon area but don't exit in it it is going to cost you just $3 - $3 will get charged on the on-ramp and another $3 when you get on the off-ramp in the cordon area. This will be introduced by 2012 in auckland. Charges are to be confirmed exactly but from what we heard from that goverment official it is not likely to go under $5 for a 12 hour period.

Will keep a close eye on that, as it will be very interesting. Also there are numerous proposals to charge Motorbikes at a lower rate as they are seen as one of the things thet ease congestion. Students, taxis, elderly ppl and busses are likely to get discounts. Big comercial vehicles are likely to get charged a higher rate.

P.S. Thats for Auckland by the way.

[Coyote]

The deciding factor whether this is about reducing congestion and boosting public transport or if this is just another revenue gathering scheme is whether they expect motorcycles to pay. It's not exactly like we add much to congestion, right? And my commute, which is either 1 1/2 hours by bus/train, an hour by bus alone and 45 minutes by car is only 15-20 minutes by bike. Not like I'm stuck on the road is it? Plus my bike emits less toxins per passenger when it just me on it than a fully laden bus, and the bus is rarely packed. When a bus is packed, the journey is stop/start between each stop which isn't good for fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions either.

[marioc]

Bloody good idea imo,something has to be done.
The amount of cars with one person is just ridiculous.
Public transport needs to be much better though.

[Dodger]

No news yet on if bikes are exempt.

Still the loophole seems to be the exemption for delivery vehicles and taxies.
Wont cost much to set yourself up as a company ($25 I think) and have your car as a delivery vehicle :)

[Wally Simmonds]

Yeah, when I take the car in I'm usually taking a couple of others, so not a huge deal if they do it properly. They're really going to have to sort out the public transport side of things as I take the bus most days and theres nearly always people left behind because the buses are so full. Where we are in Grenada Village the bus doesn't always come when it's supposed to, either.

[skelstar]

If its the toll system thing, its apparently a big media beat up, Fran Wilde been on talk back and is saying its all crap, and they (council) haven't even considered it as an option really. Don't you just *love* the media?

[Pwalo]

They do it in London and it works fine.

True, but they use a CCTV camera system to record number plates, rather than the transponder system suggested.

Still it'll mean out of towners will be ok.

[henry]

Interesting that this coming from the regional council. The Wellington city council seems intent on pumping more cars into the city.

I see Prendergast is against it so that guarantees it's a good idea.

Motorcycles are exempt in London.

[Dodger]

How about spending the money needed to implement this on upgrading the roads instead?

I liked the comment on Top Gear regarding the London system and the number of Super cars that are now registered as taxis :)

[Winter]

The system has already been installed in auckland - just not turned on. There is a thread about it here. bloody gubbermint / councils.

makes me blood boil!

[fireball]

what a whole lot of :tugger:

[swbarnett]

They do it in London and it works fine.
Last I heard it didn't work at all. People just paid it.

This was soon after it was implemented though. Do you have a reference for an update?

[swbarnett]

Last I heard it didn't work at all. People just paid it.

This was soon after it was implemented though. Do you have a reference for an update?
Seems I spoke too soon. Found it on Wiki.

I haven't read much yet but there seems to be mixed feelings as to it's effectiveness and side effects.

[Forest]

I think congestion charging is an excellent idea.

People respond to incentives, and congestion charging offers a clear incentive not to travel during peak traffic periods.

[henry]

Last I heard it didn't work at all. People just paid it.
This was soon after it was implemented though. Do you have a reference for an update?

Only talking to people last time I was there.

[henry]

As an example of how at odds the regional and city councils are, and how fuck the city council is... WCC wants to start charging people for parking at the park and ride car parks at the railway stations.

Way to encourage people to use the train.

[Bikernereid]

Having a congestion charge in London has reduced traffic and it is a better place to visit now. The only problem is if you are just visiting and you don't know how to get the congestion pass before entering London.

The carpool lane system in the US works and is an alternative to congestion charge!

So long as they seriously improve public trasnport then a congestions system should not be too intrusive.

[Timber020]

I think its a good idea, the problem isnt getting any better by doing nothing.

[Jiminy]

I'm all for it. And it will probably be much more efficient than the inner city bypass. Ahem, wasn't the bypass supposed to get rid of traffic congestion? How much did it cost again? :whistle:


The carpool lane system in the US works and is an alternative to congestion charge!

Good point, although I'm not sure it would work so easily here with the local driving attitude.