UK to Pilot "Pay-As-You-Drive" in Five Years
Date: 10-Jun-05
Country: UK
Author: Michael Holden
Drivers would pay up to 1.34 pounds ($2.44) a mile under a satellite-monitored system the government says is needed to avoid gridlock on some roads in the next 20-30 years.
Areas for pilot schemes would identified over the next two years, Darling said in a speech to the Social Market Foundation think-tank in London.
"What is certain is that the problem of congestion is going to get worse. Doing nothing is not an option," Darling said.
Simply boosting spending on public transport would not be enough to solve growing congestion problems, he insisted.
"We must look at it or else we face almost certain gridlock," Darling told Sky News earlier.
"If you can persuade only a small proportion of people to take their journeys earlier or later in the morning or the afternoon peak you free up a lot of capacity.
The scheme, which would replace fuel tax, would require vehicles to be fitted with technology to allow satellites to monitor them.
The move, recommended last year in a government-funded study, would sharply cut fuel bills -- duty currently accounts for around half the price of petrol.
A Mori poll for IT consultancy firm Detica carried out before the plans were announced found 47 percent of motorists thought drivers should pay more during peak times.
It also said only 16 percent were totally against having a tracking system in their cars.
However Darling insisted the intention was not to raise more tax from drivers.
TRAFFIC CONGESTION
Conservative transport spokesman Alan Duncan said he was concerned whether the scheme would be workable in practice.
"Is the technology really going to be there? Are you just going to use this to squeeze out more tax from people? Is a mini going to be charged as much as a Bentley?" he asked on Sky News.
Environmental group Friends of the Earth said road-pricing was only part of the solution to tackling traffic congestion.
"Road-pricing is not a magic solution to our transport crisis, and won't be introduced for a number of years," said the group's transport campaigner Tony Bosworth.
"Urgent measures are needed now to get people to use alternatives to the car and to buy greener vehicles too," he added.
Fears have also been raised that if petrol were to become drastically cheaper, motorists might be tempted to buy environmentally unfriendly, gas-guzzling cars.
