FWIW I do get the tube, bus, cycle and walk much more than I drive. I like that there is less pollution around town, although I think the ULEZ has only been a small part of that improvement.
What I can’t stand is the way that the deception and hypocrisy prevents any reasonable debate about the right way forward.
Even Kahn admits the ULEZ is a blunt instrument and some sort of road charging based on mileage would be better. But that wpild be time-consuming and expensive and TFL need money desperately partly due to Covid, partly due to financial mismanagement over many years like freezing fares, and partly to fund the pay settlement for drivers and other staff.
If you live in London you are probably aware that TFL are selling off station car parks to developers to build enormous blocks of flats (alongside all the other blocks being built). Meanwhile staff car parks at stations will remain.
My local (Conservative) council penalises ‘high polluting’ cars in our residents’ parking zone. It means I pay more for the Mas to be parked outside my house, doing about 2000 miles a year, than my neighbour who drives his BMW to work every day. Meanwhile the local schools have free car parks for the council-employed teaching staff (not the admin staff or TAs though).
One ray of light is that the last expansion of the scheme included a 3 year grace period for residents within the new area who already owned non-compliant cars. Maybe that will take me until end-2026 if the same principle is applied.
