[sustran] FW: TfL Press release - Congestion Charge Scheme (CCS) - summary of week five

[Paul Barter]

Dear Sustran-discussers

Here is some news about London's Congestion Charge Scheme (CCS) so far.
How do you all feel about the relevance of London's (and Singapore's
etc) experience with congestion charging/road pricing for middle-income
cities elsewhere? 

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: Wetzel Dave [mailto:Davewetzel at TFL.GOV.UK] 
Sent: Saturday, 22 March 2003 3:26 PM
To: UTSG at JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: TfL Press release - Congestion Charge Scheme (CCS) - summary of
week five


Latest update on London's congestion charge scheme.
CCS is working well so far but still early days. We will  continue to
publish a weekly update but this is the last update I will forward
generally. If you want to keep up to date pls contact our TfL website.
We will be conducting a 6-month study looking more closely at the
effects of CCS.

Dave

Dave Wetzel
Vice-Chair, Transport for London
Windsor House. 42-50 Victoria Street.
London. UK. SW1H 0TL

Tel:020 7941 4200
Fax: 020 7941 4748


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> No. 671
> 21 March 2003
>
> CONGESTION CHARGE - SUMMARY OF WEEK FIVE
>
> Traffic
>
> *     Traffic levels inside the zone again remained light throughout
the
> week. Observations are suggesting that the lower traffic levels are 
> beginning to stabilise with around 20% less traffic entering the zone 
> across the charging day.
> *     Traffic flowed well, including on the Inner Ring Road, the
boundary
> road of the zone.
> *     Preliminary data suggests there is little diverted traffic on
roads
> beyond the Inner Ring Road.
>
> Buses
>
> *     Bus services ran well all week. Latest data on buses and
congestion
> charging was given in TfL Press Notice 666 (18 March 2003) [Attached 
> below
> - Dave Wetzel]
>
> Operations
>
> *     Payments of the charge for Friday 14 March were around 100,000
> *     Approaching half a million payments are expected to have been
made
> this week by midnight on Friday 21 March
> *     Payments of the charge for each day throughout the week were:
> *     94,000 (Monday)
> *     98,000 (Tuesday)
> *     99,000 (Wednesday)
> *     100,000 (Thursday)
> *     Payments for today (Friday) are still being made
> *
> *     For the first four weeks of the scheme, the percentage split
between
> all sales channels was:
> *     Retail 36%
> *     Call centre 28%
> *     Web 16%
> *     SMS 15%
> *     Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) 4%
> *     Post 1%
>
> *     The congestion charging web site has been receiving around
70,000
> hits per day on average
>
> *     Discount registrations now total:
> *     Blue Badge 100,582
> *     Residents 22,185
> *     Other 7,186
> *
> *     In total, less than 15,000 Penalty Charge Notices are expected
to be
> issued for the week
> *     Payment channels (text messaging, retail, web and call centre)
> generally worked well throughout the week.
>
>
> ENDS
>
> For more information, please contact TfL Press Office on 020 7941 4141
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No. 666

18 March 2003

Congestion charging delivers better buses


Early research shows that speedier and more reliable buses are being
enjoyed by a record five million passengers a day since congestion
charging started.


The new data compiled by London Buses shows that since congestion
charging started on February 17th:

*       In the first week of the charge, 9.5 per cent more passengers
travelled than in the same week last year.  In the second week the
year-on-year increase was more than 10 per cent.  Together with other
improvements introduced in the last year, this has encouraged five
million passengers to use buses each weekday;
*       Bus speeds in the morning peak in the charging zone have
increased
by 15 per cent (from 10.4 to 12 kilometres per hour);
*       Delays to buses caused by traffic congestion halved in the first
two
weeks
*       Excess waiting time (the additional time waited by passengers
over
and above the route schedule) reduced by 23 per cent in the first two
weeks of the scheme in the charging zone; and
*       Early research shows that there are 6000 more bus passengers
travelling to central London in the morning peak hour, compared to
counts taken in autumn 2002, an increase of 14 per cent.  The number of
buses to the zone increased by 19 per cent over the same period.

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said:

                "Improved journey speeds and 6000 more people choosing
the bus to get to central London in the rush hour is extremely
encouraging.

                "TfL with the bus operators have delivered impressive
improvements to the entire network over the last 12 months - more buses,
better reliability and security and improved passenger information.
Funds raised from the charge will help us continue to make buses even
better."

Seventy-five services to the zone in the morning peak hour benefited
from the biggest single package of improvements for decades.  Highlights
of boosted services include:

*       18-metre bendy buses on route 436 Lewisham to Paddington; 507
(Waterloo - Lambeth Bridge - Victoria); 521 (Waterloo - Cannon Street -
London Bridge) and 453 (Deptford Broadway - Marylebone).
*       New services between Covent Garden and Tower Bridge; Camberwell
and
Shepherd's Bush; Fulham and Maida Vale; Elephant and Castle and South
Kensington; Hackney Wick and Mansion House and Northumberland Park and
Euston;
*       Double decks replaced single decks on ten routes and more than
300
extra buses to boost at least fifty services.

Notes for Editors

1.      The data for bus speeds includes time spent at bus stops and
traffic
lights.
2.      Services not operated due to traffic congestion fell from 2.7
per
cent of the network in the four weeks before the charge to 1.2 per cent
during the first two weeks of the charge.

3.      Monitoring of services by London Buses uses a combination of
data
collection methods including roadside surveys and information from
ticket machines and the Automatic Vehicle Location system.

4.      London Buses manages bus services in London for the Mayor's
Transport for London.  It plans routes, specifies service levels and
monitors service quality.  It is also responsible for bus stations, bus
stops, security initiatives and passenger information.  The bus services
are operated by private operators, which work under contract to London
Buses.

5.      The London bus network is one of the largest and most
comprehensive
urban systems in the world.  Each weekday 6,500 London buses carry 5.1
million passengers on more than 700 different routes.

For more information about London Bus Services check out
www.transportforlondon.gov.uk/buses

For more information please telephone 020 7918 3864 or 020 7027 8063.
For out-of-hours enquiries telephone 020 7941 4141.






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