Every time I have to drive south of the river, I thank goodness that I don’t have to do it very often. If you live, or work, and have to drive in South London on a regular basis then you have both my admiration and my sympathy.
While much of the North Circular is dual carriageway with
parts that actually move at an average speed greater than walking pace, I have
never been entirely clear where its South London equivalent – the South
Circular – actually is, and the parts of it I have apparently used seem to be a
motley collection of joined up suburban High Streets.
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| The North Circular... |
Perhaps this is merely prejudice and lack of knowledge on my
part, after all there are parts of London in my neck of the woods where traffic
is slow moving and there are regular bottle-necks, but the supposed reluctance
on the part of cabbies to venture over London’s bridges in a southerly
direction may be as much to do with the road network as it is with the alleged
impossibility of getting a fare in the opposite direction.
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| ...and the South Circular |
In pre-M25 days (London’s orbital motorway opened in 1975
and was completed in 1986), the North Circular was the most viable means of
getting from where I live, in Romford, to the start of the M1 (sometimes it’s
still a more attractive proposition than the M25, depending on traffic) even
though little of it featured the six lane dual carriageway that now dominates
the road’s 25 mile length. In contrast, the majority of the 20 miles of the
South Circular is single carriageway, and a much less enticing alternative to
the M25.
From my home, most journeys to South London are most
efficiently completed by crossing the QEII Bridge at Thurrock and using the M25
before heading ‘inland,’ even though this requires paying the toll on the
bridge and driving perhaps nearly twice as many miles; under normal
circumstances the longer route will be quicker. How practical this is may change
however, if the dreaded London Congestion Charge zone becomes extended, as
seems to be becoming a very real possibility.
The Congestion Charge was introduced in 2003, covering the
approximate area within London’s Inner Ring Road (not to be confused with
either the North and South Circulars, or the M25) with a charge of £5 Monday to
Friday between the hours of 7am and 6pm. Now, largely due to COVID-19 requiring
Transport for London (TfL) to make up for lost revenue due to their being fewer
paying punters using their services, it runs from 7am to 10pm, seven days a
week and costs £15 per day. Residents living within or very near the charging
zone receive a 90% discount, although currently the discount scheme is closed
to new residents, and someone using the zone for an average of 230 days in a
year would pay £3,500 for the privilege.
The possibility of the Congestion Charge zone extending to
include everywhere within the North Circular and South Circular Roads has been
mooted because of the losses suffered by TfL in the last few months, and
extending the scheme may be the price that the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and
the Greater London Authority have to pay for receiving Government support.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week attacked Mayor Khan
in Parliament, claiming that TfL was effectively bankrupted by the Mayor, even
before COVID-19. Khan responded that he had cut the operations deficit by 71%
since 2016, and increased reserves by 16% in the same period, but that a 90%
reduction in income from fares meant that TfL needed the bailout he was asking
for. Johnson also attacked Khan over the closure of Hammersmith Bridge, which
is in desperate need of repair.
It is of course important to note that Khan took over as Mayor from Johnson, who was responsible for the TfL deficit which Khan had been reducing, and who preferred to spend money on imaginary bridges - £53 million on the failed Garden Bridge project – than on real ones, like Hammersmith. During his time as Mayor, Johnson also presided over the introduction of the highly anticipated, but ultimately largely unloved, new Routemaster bus, and the purchase of water cannons, intended for crowd control in the wake of the 2001 riots, which were sold off in 2018 at a loss in excess of £300,000.
Johnson
was also Mayor when the Emirates Airline cable car from the Greenwich Peninsular
to the Royal Docks began operations. It has singularly failed to meet
expectations in terms of passenger numbers. In all, the projects that Johnson initiated during his eight year tenure cost Londoners £900 million, and much of that was poor value for money.
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| An artist's impression of the proposed Garden Bridge - £53m well spent? |
Even the relative success of the so-called ‘Boris bikes’ is a tad over-rated, especially since it wasn’t his idea, the concept having been proposed by his predecessor, Ken Livingstone. Interestingly, although the bikes were originally sponsored by Barclays Bank, and are now branded with the name of another financial institution – Santander - operation of the scheme is contracted by TfL to Serco, who appear to be the ‘go to’ company when national or local government contracts are being handed out.
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| The Emirates Air Line - the little used cable car was another of Johnson's pet projects as Mayor |
In exchange for a bail out for TfL, it is thought that in
addition to the Government wanting to extend the range of Congestion Charge as
mentioned earlier, there would likely be an above inflation fares increase in
London, and a new council tax precept charge for an as yet unspecified amount.
Most commuters are used to swingeing annual fare increases, but the proposed council tax precept charge on top of above inflation fare increases could mean London’s
commuters paying twice over in the coming months. This will hit
hardest at the low paid, and those whose jobs do not allow them to work from
home – largely the same group – while extending the Congestion Charge zone would
impact them financially at other times, for example when going shopping.
But extending the Congestion Charge zone outwards to the
North and South Circular roads may not be the end of the matter. Once that
comes to pass the day will not be far behind when someone decides that
including all of London’s thirty-two boroughs within the charge zone would be a
good wheeze, and with 2.66 million cars in the capital in 2018, a lucrative
source of toll road income to boot.
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| The M25 |
But why stop there? The logical extent to which London’s
Congestion Charge zone could stretch is the M25, and on the day that happens
the majority of motorists within it will be trading in their cars for something
cheaper, like a bike or roller skates.
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