London pollution & ULEZ

I hated commuting after a while - used to be 45-60 minutes door to door, every day.

Now - in the few days I'm in the office - from leaving my door to landing at my desk takes 15-20 minutes, and that's not rushing. It's a fairly pleasant journey too.
 
Had to wonder if Boris's voters really did vote against labour because of ULEZ , or rather, because they don't think Keir message is credible,
waiting for a youguv survey to adjudicate - surprised rishi didn't suggest this.
 
Angela Raynor, playing along with tory win theory, on c4 news
- we have to find out how to enable people to switch to green vehicles to avoid ulez without unduly penalizing working people.

 
jpaul said:
Had to wonder if Boris's voters really did vote against labour because of ULEZ , or rather, because they don't think Keir message is credible,
waiting for a youguv survey to adjudicate - surprised rishi didn't suggest this.
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sorry if am missing a few posts and it's already covered but if they are they are even more dumb than I thought..... ULEZ was Boris's brain child wasn't it AND it included the expansion that is proposed and AND in the timeframe it's happening in.
it's one of the few things Boris did that I actually gave him some respect for at the time
 
Didn't the report Khan is using have a follow-up that said the pollution levels aren't now as high?

I know in Greater Manchester there are only a couple of areas that were of slight concern, yet they wanted to put all of Greater Manchester in the CAZ area.
 
People are naturally going to transition to greener vehicles and eventually electric so I don’t really get why a ULEZ is needed other than for generating revenue. It’s not adding anything to what is already going to happen. Rather it’s just putting more pressure on people that can’t easily afford to change.
 
Worth a read if you're under the illusions the Tories would have done anything differently with respect to the ULEZ:

www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk

Transport secretary criticises ULEZ expansion - despite insisting on it - Murky Depths

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has been telling people ULEZ expansion is a bad move - despite his own department insisting TfL do it
www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk

In public: "oh no, the ULEZ, how diabolical!"
Behind the scenes: "expand it faster, if you pull it we're not going to help"
 
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Lightnix said:
Worth a read if you're under the illusions the Tories would have done anything differently with respect to the ULEZ:

www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk

Transport secretary criticises ULEZ expansion - despite insisting on it - Murky Depths

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has been telling people ULEZ expansion is a bad move - despite his own department insisting TfL do it
www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk www.fromthemurkydepths.co.uk

In public: "oh no, the ULEZ, how diabolical!"
Behind the scenes: "expand it faster, if you pull it we're not going to help"
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It’s purely financial. TFL needs an overhaul as it’s crazy expensive to run compared to other countries.
 
What a load of codswallop.

I lived and worked in london for about 10 years. I moved from there to a leafy village in the east midlands. I visit London regularly and it’s still as filthy as it was, if not more so than I lived there 20 years ago.

black filth washes out my nose when I take a shower when I get home from London and every piece of clothing goes in the wash ‘cos they stink of filth and grime.
 
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delta0 said:
It’s purely financial. TFL needs an overhaul as it’s crazy expensive to run compared to other countries.
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I wasn't able to find a good comparison in this respect. All I can really find is that TFL is in general funded by a much higher proportion of fares than subsidies compared to some other networks. Obviously this made it a little fragile over the pandemic when fares massively fell.
 
It’s polluted in central London, you’d have to be delusional not to believe that.

I’d love to see private vehicles all banned in London. People can make do with public transport or buses, cycling and taxis. The change to the quality of life for millions would be enormous- clean air and quicker commutes all round. Before people go mad, there would be exceptions to this with proper licensing applications.

Seeing logjam with punters in their cars, majority of which are one person per car, makes me sad.
 
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Voltar said:
It’s polluted in central London, you’d have to be delusional not to believe that.

I’d love to see private vehicles all banned in London. People can make do with public transport or buses, cycling and taxis. The change to the quality of life for millions would be enormous- clean air and quicker commutes all round. Before people go mad, there would be exceptions to this with proper licensing applications.

Seeing logjam with punters in their cars, majority of which are one person per car, makes me sad.
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I think an underrated obstacle is that the comfort of public transport needs to be improved. I don't drive but in some ways I can see the appeal of being stuck in traffic by yourself as opposed to crammed into the corner of a tube carriage.

A lot of the efficiency and economic arguments of public transport seem to be predicated on the sardine can approach. That said I think the Elizabeth line is a step in the right direction as its massive capacity makes for generally more pleasant journeys.
 
Lightnix said:
I think an underrated obstacle is that the comfort of public transport needs to be improved. I don't drive but in some ways I can see the appeal of being stuck in traffic by yourself as opposed to crammed into the corner of a tube carriage.

A lot of the efficiency and economic arguments of public transport seem to be predicated on the sardine can approach. That said I think the Elizabeth line is a step in the right direction as its massive capacity makes for generally more pleasant journeys.
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Most journeys in London are short ones. No point re introducing class systems in the tube (used to have different class carriages) or having luxury buses.
The sardine can model applies to people who haven’t twigged that they can commence their commute fifteen minutes earlier and not have to squish on. It’s a choice.
I take your point about the crowding but counterpoint- leave earlier. Rarely will you be spending more than 30-60 minutes commuting in London and certainly not all of that will be on the tube or bus. Overground is underrated as well.
 
Voltar said:
Most journeys in London are short ones. No point re introducing class systems in the tube (used to have different class carriages) or having luxury buses.
The sardine can model applies to people who haven’t twigged that they can commence their commute fifteen minutes earlier and not have to squish on. It’s a choice.
I take your point about the crowding but counterpoint- leave earlier. Rarely will you be spending more than 30-60 minutes commuting in London and certainly not all of that will be on the tube or bus. Overground is underrated as well.
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I think trying to turn an argument about incentives into one about personal responsibility and habits is always doomed to fail. It feels good but it will never get people off the roads.
 
Lightnix said:
I think trying to turn an argument about incentives into one about personal responsibility and habits is always doomed to fail. It feels good but it will never get people off the roads.
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I’d incentivise by putting ULEZ and other new road and vehicle taxes in place.

But, until then it’s congestion and hollow platitudes from the mayor and government and opposition.

Oh and poor air quality. We are lucky it hasn’t been hot this year as it is grim when heat added to the pollution.
 
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