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The Commission for Integrated Transport today (25 Feb 2002) outlined a new method for paying for road use which could reduce road congestion across the UK by up to 44% without increasing the overall tax take.

It could cut the total amount of time we spend as a nation in traffic congestion each year by over 25,000 years.

At the same time the proposals, which could be introduced once the public transport improvements promised in the Government's 10 Year Transport Plan have been delivered are designed to give motorists more choice over their journey decisions – selecting between paying more and having faster and more assured journey times or going for cheaper motoring by tailoring travel to less peak times.

Commission Chair, Professor David Begg, said: "Our starting point was that roads are the only public utility that are free at the point of use. As a result everyone wants to use the most popular roads at the same time. Result gridlock. There has to be a better way-the public debate must start now.

"For generations other utilities have managed demand by giving people a choice – a premium price for peak time use and cheaper charges for other times.

"Electricity and telephone prices vary with demand. It works with airlines, trains and cross channel ferries: and it will work with roads.

"An extra bonus for roads will be the benefits the new system would bring in terms of both cutting pollution and potentially reducing social exclusion.

"At the moment we have a very blunt and unfair taxation system with those who can sometimes least afford it – users of quieter roads at off peak times – subsiding commuters competing for space in the rush hour."

How could the system work? Under CfIT's proposals all cars would be fitted with a small in car unit linked to a GPS navigation system covering the nationwide road network from motorways to residential areas. Vehicles would then be charged according to the road space they used and the time they used it. Most travel would not incur any charge.

The network would only be charged with variable charges depending on the amount of congestion. Tolls could be collected via a pre-stored smartcard on board the car or billed in the same way that mobile phones are now.

CfIT suggest that, to compensate for the charges on busier roads, other motoring taxes (Vehicle Excise Duty and Fuel Duty) nationally would be reduced by an amount equivalent to the charges levied. One option would be to scrap VED with a small reduction in fuel duty.

David Begg said: "This is an initiative which benefits all road users. For drivers who choose to use key arteries during the rush hour, they will pay more, but benefit from shorter and more assured journey times while for others, travelling off-peak there is the prospect of significant reductions to the cost of motoring."

"We have reached the point where congestion is seriously blighting the lives of an increasing number of people. We cannot build our way out of the problem, as the Government's Transport White Paper acknowledges, we need to look at initiatives that have worked in other aspects of daily life. There is nothing radically new about the concept – just where we are applying it.

"Our proposals are designed to complement the 10 Year Plan and could not be introduced until the technology could be rolled out with confidence on the scale needed. We would also want to see the public transport improvements promised in the Plan delivered first so people had real choices to make.

"Some will see this as controversial, but the only truly anti-motorist policy is to let congestion grow and spread. Clearly there are major issues to overcome and more research required However, public acceptance will be crucial-the debate must start now."

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Last modified: February 11, 2006