Boris Johnson, London's new mayor, plans to drop the £25-a-day traffic congestion charge for "urban" SUV (> 225g of CO2 per km), that was due to be introduced in October. Crikey !
"Bring the boys back home !" (with choir)
14.5.08
Is it the beginning of the end for the London Congestion Charge ?
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3 comments:
Maybe I miss the point of your post, but why should a driver be punished only for the type of car in which he/she is congesting traffic? Okay, a supermini is a lot shorter than the cars pictured here, but it still contributes to traffic congestion.
I on the contrary believe that anyone with a BMW X series or Porsche chili powder should be punished with huge taxes for
1) having no taste whatsoever
2) blocking my view of the road
:P
You're right, but it's not the size, it's the emissions (> 225g of CO2 per km). I even like (old) Range Rovers, but they don't make much sense in an urban environment. There is also another thing that I don't like about SUVs: weight disproportion and different bumper height in an accident involving a normal car. Of course a supermini can also be highly polluting, especially if we drive it everyday to go to work, and it's even worst if it's a diesel. Diesels are terrible for our health (just check the last pollution figures for oxides of nitrogen and fine particles in Brussels or Luxembourg). So, I think cars should be taxed in 3 different ways: a one-time sale tax, depending on the price (you can call it a "luxury tax", if you want, my leftish guilt levels are very low today), an yearly tax for emissions, including all the emissions, and not just CO2 (a lot less discriminating then the one we have now in Luxembourg, just a symbolic thing), and a very substantial fuel tax, one that would really make people think twice before starting their engine, to "convince" them of the benefits of public transportation.
(I should have been more specific about this in the post, but I've been very busy lately... and lazy, also. Thanks for making me clear my point.)
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