A postal referendum is currently taking place on proposals for a Manchester congestion charge, with the ballot closing on 11 December. The campaign has reached YouTube as this clip shows (and it’s a typical sign of the times that people’s reaction to the events in the clip is to whip out their mobile phones to take photos):
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There is also a video on the 21st Century Transport website- http://www.21centurytransport.com
Nice video, but I’m afraid it won’t persuade me, or most other Lib Dems round my way that this congestion charge is a good idea.
The world’s largest charging zone (by a long way) will make people outside the M60 ring road pay for public transport improvements that are nearly all inside, so they don’t benefit us or give us alternatives to driving.
The real message to most people outside the charging zone is “you pay, you get even worse traffic”. Good deal.
And, of course, the “Yes” campaign is all publically funded, but the Councils are forbidden from funding the “no” campaign. Level playing field, anyone?
I’ve delivered over a thousand “NO” leaflets over the last couple of weeks and I’m reasonably confident that we’ll win and pro-charge Labour will lose.
I hope the “yes” vote wins. We need to promote public transport use by any means possible.
The car won’t get you very far when the M60 is a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam
How is making people pay to cross the M60 by car and then not providing public transport alternatives promoting public transport? It’s just making people pay.
Liam,
Why would the M60 have bumper-to-bumper traffic jams?
The CONgestion charge will make things far worse outside the zone and might even make your prediction come true with everyone driving round the M60 to avoid going into the charging zone.
Public transport is not the great enabler you think. For most people’s journeys, personal transport in the form of a car is by far the most environmentally friendly and efficient option.
The video is pretty but says nothing. THe we vote ‘Yes’ campaign has been poor, the posters with selfish people explaining why they are alright jack seems to sum up the reson for a yes vote.
It hurts the professional people and causes an econmic headache.
A ‘NO’ vote does not mean we are against public transport but the TIF bochure is at best misleading, we could say it’s a big lie.
The traffic levels in Manchester have fallen nearly 10% in 10 years so why attack the private motorist? The revenue promised in the brochure simply is not achievable without a huge increase in cars from hte current level. The adverse effect on the economy is scary and the environmental impact could be adverse.
There are some very easy wins yet instead we are being forced into the very expensive plan in the TIF brochure. I’ve looked and almost £900,000,000 of the £1.1bn loan is being allocated to spending on items that will not add one train, bus, tram or add any roadspace whatsoever.
Vote No for me.