OK, so this is a hot topic in Cambridge, what are your thoughts on the proposed congestion charge for Cambridge city?
My personal opinion is that I’m not opposed to a congestion charge, I just don’t think that the proposed plan is a fair or good solution. As we can all appreciate, traffic in Cambridge is very busy and that something needs to be done. We do have a great Park & Ride infrastructure, but some of the other bus routes could do with improving. I personally use the P&R occasionally and it works for me, but I know some people that need to take multiple busses to get across the city.
I live in the proposed zone, however I am right on the edge and I work outside of Cambridge so I will be paying to leave Cambridge!!!
Also, as an EV owner I appreciate that all cars cause congestion and this isn’t an environmental push.
This proposal, to me, seems an easy cash cow for GCP, it is being implemented for week days only, so affecting people travelling to work and by excluding weekends it is not going to affect people coming to Cambridge for tourism and shopping which adds to the congestion!
On the one hand, as a cyclist/train commuter I’m very much in favour of this, but I appreciate that’s because there’s no cost to me supporting this.
On the other hand, I worry about ending up with a situation like Bristol. People are livid with the council there over the ULEZ. My parents visited recently and got over £200 in fines they never knew existed.
I think the main point is that the implementation needs to be correct. Any charges should be reasonable, predictable, and easily avoidable through a healthy supply of alternative transport links. Cities like Cambridge could provide a template for reducing congestion in similarly sized towns across the country, so it’s important that they get this right.