In message , at 07:33:12 on Fri, 2 Nov
2018, Someone Somewhere remarked:
What we need to prevent is regular journeys, not all journeys - that
would also cover emergency vehicles, people having to fix things and so
on, but not daily deliveries or commuting to work.

I can definitely relate to this "occasional use" exemption. There are
many driving restrictions in place which are primarily aimed at regular
drivers. If I was to venture inside the N/S circulars in my diesel car,
or use the Dartford Crossing, one or twice a year, would it really break
the bank to waive the fee?
Probably not BUT where do you set the limit? In any case, this is
not about raking in money (even though it might do so). It's about
air quality and therefore keeping as many "polluting vehicles" out
is/should be the aim.

Yes - and those are the vehicles that do it 200 times a year, not 5.

The question is, how much of London traffic is made of regular vehicles
and how much is made of occasional visitors? I'd suggest it's 95% the
former (a lot of non-Londoners I know will actively avoid or refuse to
drive in London) but I have no citable evidence.

I just have my own anecdata which says I currently have very little
*need* to drive in London, being just an hour away by train and the
traffic inside the N/S circular is dire and parking horrendous. I do
however drive *around* especially the North Circular perhaps once a year
on the way to/from somewhere when the M25 is at a standstill.

Since the congestion charge came in, I've only had to pay it once, but
one of my children was at University in London for four years and that
involved a "taxi-dad" trip at the beginning and end of every term. Their
accommodation was always in Z2, never Z1 or Z3+; nevertheless it was a
somewhat specialist need. After a while we got quite good at doing
turn-arounds within the 2hr-max typically for parking meters in those
parts.

Reduce or clean up their journeys and the job is basically done.

Of course, horrendously polluting vehicles should be kept out
regardless, but we're talking about e.g. 10 year old petrol cars which
clearly meet some emissions standards.

The wider ultra-low-emissions-zone supervised by the Mayor, and due to
come into force in April, requires a diesel to be Euro-6 which means
that some cars bought as little as two years ago (in the twilight of
Euro-5) will be charged.

If they'd allowed Euro-5, I might have considered buying an early Euro-5
car recently, but as it stands I had nothing to lose getting a late
Euro-4 (in terms of regulatory compliance, anyway).
--
Roland Perry