Happy ULEZ day
 

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Happy ULEZ day

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Once installed, controls on congestion and emissions are usually popular. It’s a weird one because they tend to stir up worries and opposition before implementation but then after they are generally in favour or neutral once the changes are implemented.

Probably the most notable one was the Stockholm congestion charge which was trialled as a one year pilot. At the end of the year, residents were asked to vote on whether to retain it. They voted for.

https://www.ibm.com/blog/stockholm-congestion-pricing-iot-analytics-government/#


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 8:59 pm
kelvin reacted
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That depends on which air quality objective you’re trying to improve, and where.

Well yes, I had particle pollution in mind.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/15/wood-burners-emit-more-particle-pollution-than-traffic-uk-data-shows

Although I believe that wood burners also create nitrogen dioxide.

And where? Well since children's health has been brought up more than once wherever children breathe air.


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 9:00 pm
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Ernie - your euro 5 car produces more pollution which is why its not ULEZ compliant.  deislas are particularly bad for larticulates which are now seen as a real hazard

Now how many children dying is it worth it so you can drive your dirty car ( anyone not just Ernie) into the city?


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 9:10 pm
kelvin reacted
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I thought that both Labour and the Tories agreed that ulez was the deciding factor in Labour not winning the Uxbridge by-election TJ?

They would both be mistaken. The lack of Brunel University students voting in Uxbridge due to holidays was probably more important than ULEZ on Labour's fortunes.


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 9:12 pm
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Ernie – your euro 5 car produces more pollution which is why its not ULEZ compliant. deislas are particularly bad for larticulates which are now seen as a real hazard

And a euro 6 car produces more pollution than a zero emissions car. So why has Sadiq Khan shelved plans for the introduction of a zero emissions zone.

Doesn't he care about children dying?

https://www.ft.com/content/d373d159-7a96-427a-9d97-14542eac8527


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 9:29 pm
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Come onErnie - how many dead children is it worth 🙂


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 9:30 pm
kelvin reacted
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deislas are particularly bad for larticulates which are now seen as a real hazard

Hm, the filters do remove most if not all of it.  Nitrous oxides are the main problem, but that can be almost entirely fixed with a modern SCR system.  However, tyre and brake dust is also a bad source of pollution, and petrol engines also produce a lot of smaller particulates that can enter your bloodstream via the lungs.

So all in all, traffic is just generally bad.

Why are people even allow to sell wood for burning?

They aren't, in most big towns and cities.  Clean air act 1956 I think.  Or rather, you aren't allowed to burn it.


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 9:30 pm
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Come onErnie – how many dead children is it worth 🙂

Surely you need to ask that question to Sadiq Khan, it is him who has decided to shelve his zero emissions zone.

How long can it wait, whilst children are dying?

And why are we waiting to ban gas boilers?


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 9:38 pm
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Its a really simple question.  Removing the ULEZ will cost lives.  How many lives is it worth it to you?

whataboutery is irrelevant 🙂


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 9:39 pm
kelvin reacted
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Why are people even allow to sell wood for burning?

They aren’t, in most big towns and cities. Clean air act 1956 I think. Or rather, you aren’t allowed to burn it.

A Google search of "wood for burning" suggests that it is very easy to buy wood for burning. I have to assume that they are not being fined for flouting the law.


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 9:42 pm
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Like it or not Diesels aren’t welcome in cites. I hate them personally, filthy smelly things and would never own one, but drive a diesel company van unfortunately.
I imagine that’ll change if costs continue to rise which is the point I guess.

Camden council already charge diesels more to park.
For parking permits and on street parking.

I think it was something like £50 for the morning to park near a job I had to do at Farringdon tube station. A 50% charge IIRC, having a bang up to date Euro whatever makes no odds.

Obviously I’d have used the tube if I didn’t need over 50kg of tools for the job.
It just gets added to the invoice, so doesn’t bother me.


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 9:43 pm
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whataboutery is irrelevant 🙂

How is mentioning Sadiq Khan's zero emissions zone when discussing pollution 'irrelevant whataboutery'?

It sounds extraordinarily relevant to me.

So, how many children need to die before he introduces it?

It has only been "shelved" which suggests that he recognises how important it is.

He was asked to delay the ulez expansion but he obviously needs the revenue from it now. Presumably he doesn't feel that the zero emissions zone will provide him with sufficient revenue to make it a priority?


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 9:45 pm
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super. Another thread derailed by the usual suspects - instead of a women's forum can we have one just for the perpetual arguers to bicker away on.


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 10:27 pm
peekay, salad_dodger, mogrim and 11 people reacted
 bfw
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if we care that much all the buses and lorries need to be non-diesel.  Dont even start me on Euro6 diesels being clean, which is just tripe.  every few miles the dpf burns all the crap and dumps it straight onto the floor

I love cars petrol and diesel, but hey are not clean.  My 2014 VW Caravelle I just use as least as possible and I use the EV, which has to be charges and the fuel for this is probably not clean either.  We all just have to try and drive less


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 10:28 pm
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apologies jonv for my part in it.


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 10:29 pm
kelvin reacted
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My 46mpg A3 TDI 185 sline is compliant

My missus’ Astra 55mpg CDTI isn’t… I know it doesn’t go from MPG but was surprised hers that I’d expect to be better on fuel would be better emissions, clearly not


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 10:33 pm
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super. Another thread derailed by the usual suspects – instead of a women’s forum can we have one just for the perpetual arguers to bicker away on.

Terrible isn't it, a political thread where not everyone has the same opinion.

Sterile threads where everyone agrees are so much more useful.


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 10:33 pm
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I've got to be honest here. Apologies just don't really cut it when it doesn't actually mean anything because you (and the others) will just get dragged into another bickering pointscoring posting-fest in a few days time. The behaviour doesn't change and the 'sorry I did it again' becomes meaningless.

If any of you really mean it then stop doing it; there are some subjects that are practically undebatable now because of it.

@ernie - fine to have alternative opinions but the last two hours have basically been TJ trying to get you to answer a trap of a question, and you refusing to (fine) but then keep poking him to make him more annoyed. It's not a debate, it's childish.

[edit - I'm not the thread police, just saying what I think. Sometimes I need someone to point stuff out to me when I behave like a tit]


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 10:45 pm
peekay, salad_dodger, mogrim and 4 people reacted
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Well yes, I had particle pollution in mind.

And which air quality objectives are breached in the ULEZ zone?


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 10:49 pm
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jonv - I think many of us need that nudge.  No worries from me


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 10:51 pm
MoreCashThanDash, kelvin, theotherjonv and 1 people reacted
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also FWIW - what is an indirect greenhouse gas?

https://naei.beis.gov.uk/overview/ghg-overview

Nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and NMVOCs are included in the inventory because they can produce increases in tropospheric ozone concentrations and this increases radiative forcing (warming of the atmosphere).


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 10:54 pm
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And which air quality objectives are breached in the ULEZ zone?

If it's a euro 5 diesel engine it's nitrogen dioxide emissions, I don't think there is any difference between euro 5 and euro 6 engines with regards to particle pollution.

Wood burners are apparently far more damaging to health than modern diesel engines.


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 10:56 pm
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Terrible isn’t it, a political thread where not everyone has the same opinion.

It didn't start that way but once you got your teeth into it, well the rest is history.

Pretty sure you could make a thread about cake into politics.

As a sidebar, I'm sure what we'll see soon enough is a spike in MH related posting that coincides with the bickering.

It's almost like there's a pattern in some people's behaviour...


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 10:59 pm
salad_dodger, crazy-legs, kilo and 3 people reacted
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Pretty sure you could make a thread about cake into politics.

This thread isn't about cake, it is about ulez which is a political issue.

I happen to share very similar views on the issue as the current leader of the Labour Party and the Labour mayor of Manchester.

Obviously not everyone is happy with people expressing political veiws which are different to their own but hey, it's called a forum for a reason.


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 11:06 pm
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If it’s a euro 5 diesel engine it’s nitrogen dioxide emissions, I don’t think there is any difference between euro 5 and euro 6 engines with regards to particle pollution.

Is an answer to a question I haven't asked.


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 11:23 pm
kelvin reacted
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Terrible isn’t it, a political thread where not everyone has the same opinion.

Sterile threads where everyone agrees are so much more useful.

It's not that you disagree, ernie.  It's the quality of the discussion that you create.  You just nit pick everything and point score and it's sooo tedious even I can't handle it.

I predict your response to this post will be "Where do I nit pick? Show me the evidence" or something like that.

Also +1 jonv.


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 11:32 pm
salad_dodger, mogrim, crazy-legs and 5 people reacted
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A Google search of “wood for burning” suggests that it is very easy to buy wood for burning. I have to assume that they are not being fined for flouting the law.

No, and they're not being fined for burning it either, as I think councils gave up policing it as most people stopped doing it.  But now people have started again so they will need to do something.


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 11:34 pm
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So let me get this straight. Compliant vehicles give off less emissions.

But still give off harmful emissions.

Harmful emissions contribute to child deaths.

Seems that theres at least a bit of hypocrisy going on here. Your car still contributes to child deaths, but less so than his, so therefore you are better than him(or Her).


 
Posted : 29/08/2023 11:56 pm
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 Your car still contributes to child deaths, but less so than his, so therefore you are better than him(or Her).

I think you made that last bit up.  The government needs to make rules to reduce pollution - this is reasonable.  Feeling superior to others based on your car is something that you may choose to do, it's nothing to do with the government.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 12:08 am
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Moving folk into new cars isn’t exactly fixing the issue.  Also what’s the actual numbers of cars not ulez compliant? And is that going to make a huge difference?

Why isn’t it fixing the issue, which is cleaning up poor air quality. Not sure offhand what the numbers are, something like 9% or thereabouts.

Also what’s the actual numbers of cars not ulez compliant? And is that going to make a huge difference?

My old Octavia certainly wouldn’t have been, so when it became obvious that it just wasn’t worth trying to get it through MOT tests I decided to get a fairly new petrol.
My mate has a petrol Polo, I think it’s something like a 57 plate, and that’s compliant. I can’t imagine many people unable to afford a second hand car of that age, tbh.

Something I read recently was very interesting, it was a list of the cities with the worst air pollution, including Paris, Athens, possibly Amsterdam, but London wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Sadly I can’t find a current list online, and I can’t remember the source of the list I was looking at.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 2:47 am
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As mentioned above Paris has Crit’Air though, and while it’s non-charging, if the air quality is sufficiently poor and your car is in the wrong band, it’s the metro or a massive fine. I’m not sure if that’s more inconvenient as on especially in the summer you might not know from one day to the next?


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 7:54 am
kelvin reacted
 DrJ
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I’m pretty surprised by how many people are ok with air pollution, with pretty well known deleterious effects, if it saves them a few quid.

Don’t be surprised. People voted for a crap health service because someone told them their taxes would be lower. How dim can you get?


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:16 am
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So all in all, traffic is just generally bad.

The elephant in the room. We need less traffic, via proper public transport and active travel. Compliant, non-compliant, disel, electric etc etc. All create gridlock and harm the environment in some way or other.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:23 am
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We need less traffic

Less large traffic certainly. single occupancy vehicles, large vehicles. Short trips. I look forward to the day when we have a mix of "tiny" vehicles. Peds, bikes, electric bikes, single person electric vehicles with short ranges right up to smallish family vehicles for carrying a family. We are stuck in this dangerous cycles of SUV's and ever larger cars, ev and ICE.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:32 am
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Why isn’t it fixing the issue, which is cleaning up poor air quality

Becauae air quality isn't the only issue.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:33 am
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we lived in Brentford for the first 4 years of my sons life, it was great but, when we moved out of London to Buckinghamshire his asthma cleared up overnight

glad to see Brentford is now in the ULEZ

my 9 year old zafira is compliant, what percentage of cats on the road are older than that ?  (obviously diesels are less likely to be)


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:34 am
kelvin reacted
 DrJ
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We need less traffic

Fewer traffic. Oh. Sorry. As you were.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:34 am
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Yes, all traffic is bad and ideally you wouldn't need to drive everywhere and maybe you don't but it is such a massive change to peoples lives that they will never vote for a party that suggest it and democracy wins that one.
Many solutions - i.e. get on one of hundreds of electric powered very regular but small buses, get off and use your electric powered scooter (or clearly better still walk or bicycle) to get to where you are going. Needs a lot of investment and change to even make that possible.

Maintain home working via law would also have been a progressive step but we have quickly returned to the better companies still even demanding 60% of days in office.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:36 am
 DrJ
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Probably the most notable one was the Stockholm congestion charge which was trialled as a one year pilot. At the end of the year, residents were asked to vote on whether to retain it. They voted for.

Quote from article about Stockholm:

An important part of the pilot included enhancements to the transit system.

“It was important to give people options besides cars,” Holecy said. Bus service was expanded. Parking spots were added outside the city so that people in more remote areas could leave their cars for the day.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:38 am
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My 2 cents worth:

1. If TfLs figure of 10% non compliant vehicles is correct then i struggle to see how much of an improvement in air quality you get from "banning" them (also assumes that people will just stop driving them..many won't, they'll pay cos it's easier)

2. People who say everyone can just replace their non compliant car for £1500 - i can't imagine a vehicle at that price is going to be ideal for e.g. A large family who use their one and only car for everything including family holidays...


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:40 am
ernielynch reacted
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smallish family vehicles for carrying a family

Or for people with disabilities. Often marginalised, or just completely ignored, in utopian visions of society.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:41 am
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3 i also struggle to believe that a knackered old petrol car, probably burning oil, is less polluting than a euro 5 diesel.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:43 am
bfw and ernielynch reacted
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People voted for a crap health service because someone told them their taxes would be lower. How dim can you get?

Well that is obviously not true, there is no evidence that people voted for a crap health service.

In fact poll after poll shows that people are very happy to have tax increases to pay for an improved social provisions. Here is just one:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/aug/06/public-dont-want-tax-cuts-truss-and-sunak-are-promising-poll-reveals

And when the Tories and the LibDems convinced voters that austerity was vital in 2010 they had to make a pledge to ring-fence the NHS budget. Obviously the NHS was still affected because of cuts in social services but it was recognition that a worse health service would not be acceptable to voters.

I agree that the public needs further political awareness but they are certainly not dim.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:44 am
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In fact poll after poll shows that people are very happy to have tax increases to pay for an improved social provisions. Here is just one:

Poll after poll does say this.

Election after election shows otherwise. Despite all the evidence.

Anyway, back to ULEZ


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:48 am
kelvin, theotherjonv, salad_dodger and 1 people reacted
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@twodogs - if we said that all littering is caused by 10% of the population, and that our plan was to lock up that 10%, do you agree that this would solve the litter problem? Same principle. Although the analogy breaks down when you get to the “pay to fly tip” point.

For your second point… well, owning a car isn’t a right and if you can’t afford to do it without poisoning the family down the road who earns exactly the same but is using public transport, then you don’t get a car. Set £2,000 as the limit on Autotrader and loads of stuff comes up.

ULEZ targets a specific kind of emission.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:48 am
kelvin reacted
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Next they need to impose French style additional costs on SUVs to get them out of the city. Better for everyone.

Why SUVs? Should a SUV emitting 130g be banned whereas a RS6 that emits 290g be allowed? Cars are already taxed based on emissions irrespective of shape or personal irrational hatred for a particular type of car.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:50 am
scotroutes reacted
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Poll after poll does say this.

Election after election shows otherwise. Despite all the evidence.

That's because elections are fought on lots of issues.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:53 am
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Election after election shows otherwise.

Election after election shows that all political parties feel the need to promise an improved health service, whether they deliver or not.

Anyway, back to ULEZ

And claiming that the answer to every political question is "people are dim"?


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:54 am
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i also struggle to believe that a knackered old petrol car, probably burning oil, is less polluting than a euro 5 diesel.

Oil burning aside, it might well be, because of the way petrol is burned in an engine compared to diesel.

If TfLs figure of 10% non compliant vehicles is correct then i struggle to see how much of an improvement in air quality you get from “banning” them (also assumes that people will just stop driving them..many won’t, they’ll pay cos it’s easier)

If the NOx emissions are being produced by 10% of the vehicles on the road, then removing 90% of them will reduce the NOx emissions by 90%.

It won't, of course, because there will be commercial vehicles and other sources of NOx pollution, but it could still make a big difference.  It's the 'low hanging fruit' concept.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:55 am
kelvin reacted
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if we said that all littering is caused by 10% of the population

But what about the other 20% who actually also litter? (according to RAC figures and warping your analogy). To be clear I'm not questioning the ULEZ (tho it should be phased in over 3-5 yrs with gradually increasing charges IMO), I'm questioning TfL's logic and apparent under reporting the number of impacted vehicles...


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:56 am
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irrational hatred for a particular type of car.

But its not irrational is it. Additional features of large SUV's is their greater weight, greater use of materials as well as fuel to cart that weight around, polluting tyre particles etc. Not to mention that pedestrians are more likely to be killed by them if they are hit.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:56 am
kelvin, peekay, hightensionline and 3 people reacted
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The irony that you cannot drive an older diesel vehicle to Heathrow airport to drop someone off without paying the ULEZ payment. However airside at Heathrow they have literally hundreds and hundreds of non compliant vehicles driving round the ramp and don't have to pay a penny as they don't go on the roads.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:56 am
salad_dodger reacted
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(Anyway, I'm off, cosnapart from a momentary return to the actual subject, the usual thread spoiler is back)


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:58 am
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The irony that you cannot drive an older diesel

Its not irony. I agree it should be dealt with but its the "look over there" mentality which excuses positive changes like this being implemented.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 8:59 am
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I would argue the airport is a far bigger contributor to pollution and poor air quality than any group of vehicle's on the road. Average hold times into heathrow are about 20-30 minutes on a good day, thats 30 minutes for any aircraft circling over London burning vast amounts of aviation fuel. Surely it would have been better to force Heathrow into reducing air traffic so no holding is required and also  as a side effect this would have improved the quality of life of everyone under the flight path.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 9:05 am
scotroutes reacted
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Does the pollution from the aircraft drop down to street/house level?


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 9:19 am
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Average hold times into heathrow are about 20-30 minutes on a good day

The longest I’ve held going into Heathrow in the last year is five minutes. Traffic is much more streamlined from Europe and the rest of the UK than a decade ago, and most delay is absorbed by slowing down prior to entering UK airspace. It’s also quite rare to hold in level flight at Heathrow so you’ll be flying with close to idle thrust from 150 miles out until 1200ft / 3.5 miles from the runway anyway.

Obviously the fuel wasted (and associated pollution) from running an engine at idle while waiting on the ground for the rest of the problems at Heathrow to be fixed is a different matter, but IMHO inbound traffic is not the cause.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 9:25 am
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“It was important to give people options besides cars,” Holecy said. Bus service was expanded.

It would be hard to argue that in order to tempt Londoners out from their cars London needs better public transport solutions. Given that (the last figures I could Google) Londoners have about £1212 / head spent on them whilst in the North of England its more like £450.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 9:25 am
kelvin reacted
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I’m sure someone’s already said on this thread that no matter how attractive you make the alternatives, unless there’s some sort of discouragement to driving people will still get in their car.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 9:29 am
kelvin reacted
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People who say everyone can just replace their non compliant car for £1500 – i can’t imagine a vehicle at that price is going to be ideal for e.g. A large family who use their one and only car for everything including family holidays…
Posted 48 minutes ago

thats probably more than my compliant zafira would cost and were currently on a family holiday  (it doesn't burn oil either)

 TfLs figure of 10% non compliant vehicles is correct then i struggle to see how much of an improvement in air quality you get from “banning” them (also assumes that people will just stop driving them..many won’t, they’ll pay cos it’s easier)

if its a small number of the most polluting vehicles, then yes it would


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 9:32 am
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I’m sure someone’s already said on this thread that no matter how attractive you make the alternatives, unless there’s some sort of discouragement to driving people will still get in their car.

Yes. I mean, there are already discouragements - commuting in a car is generally pretty shit, and it's expensive.  But we have managed to make public transport even shitter.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 9:35 am
salad_dodger and bfw reacted
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It’s expensive, but it’s a sunk/hidden cost?


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 9:39 am
 DrJ
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It would be hard to argue that in order to tempt Londoners out from their cars London needs better public transport solutions. Given that (the last figures I could Google) Londoners have about £1212 / head spent on them whilst in the North of England its more like £450.

And yet transport is still hideously expensive and coverage is patchy. In a previous existence I worked in Uxbridge and when the tube was out of action to get home from there was an absolute nightmare - took hours.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 9:40 am
nickc reacted
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I’m sure someone’s already said on this thread that no matter how attractive you make the alternatives

The owner of an electric taxi in London told me last week that he gets about 60miles from a charge, the cost of the charge has increased from £3.00 to £14.00 and takes him 35 mins, he "fills up" on average 3 times a day*. He doesn't mind the waiting (although it's often longer becasue of the queue for the charger) but was pretty disappointed that he was being penalised for "doing the right thing"  The cost of the taxi is more money and that was being offset by the (much cheaper) "refuelling" now, he reckons it's about the same as it was for diesel, but the lease on the car is still the same increased price.

* once when he gets into town, nearly every day about lunch time, and once again to top it up to get him home again.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 9:45 am
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Why isn’t it fixing the issue, which is cleaning up poor air quality.

The answer to that one is always fewer cars not newer cars. Not something the multi-national car manufacturers are comfortable with.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 9:47 am
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Or for people with disabilities.

Who have Motability.

Love these examples of Schroedingers poor who simultaneously cannot afford a compliant car but can also afford to drive here there and everywhere in a less efficient and higher taxed vehicle.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 9:48 am
 DrJ
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The owner of an electric taxi in London told me last week that he gets about 60miles from a charge

Seems odd, but, anyway - he is being stiffed by the govt's handling of the elctricity market, not by ULEZ.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 9:49 am
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I’m sure someone’s already said on this thread that no matter how attractive you make the alternatives, unless there’s some sort of discouragement to driving people will still get in their car.

Agree. Even if a free bus stopped outside my house every 15 minutes it would still take longer to get anywhere and not actually go to where I want it to go without numerous stops and changes.
Although if cars were pretty much banned I would soon be happy for that 15 minutes bus service (where I live the only bus of the day comes at 11:00 and returns at 5)


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 9:54 am
kelvin reacted
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Who have Motability.

Only if they qualify for benefits, which have been decimated under 13 years of Tory rule. An awful lot of people fell through the carefully placed gaps in benefits, especially with PIP. As an example, from a few years back:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/disability-benefits-support-government-reassessed-new-system-a8108441.html

Some of us live it. The only paradox is pretending we're a civilised democracy when we actively try to decimate the people who need help the most.

I'm all for the ULEZ, btw.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 10:02 am
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Edinburgh has a very good public transport system.  total journey times ie including parking up etc are very similar to cars IIRC and its relatively cheap.  people still drive across the city despite it being clogged with traffic.  Decent bus lanes mean the buses are as quick as cars for most journeys.

Mind you car journeys are the minority in Edinburgh

Its funny how peoples psyche works on this.  I had my parents car for a couple of weeks a good few years ago.  I found myself driving it to work, sitting in traffic jams and getting stressed but it was slower than going by bike

Weird

Edit - my point being this needs carrot and stick approach and a large change in attitudes.   If someone as anti car / pro bike as me gets suckered into driving a car when objectively its a worse option............


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 10:02 am
kelvin and nickc reacted
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anyone seen any stats on percentage of vehicles liable to ulez tax. i checked my car and its fine.

i'm presuming the uproar is due to likely worsening terms on this scheme, soon all diesel to be banned then all petrol, then electric only..,


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 10:10 am
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Love these examples of Schroedingers poor who simultaneously cannot afford a compliant car but can also afford to drive here there and everywhere in a less efficient and higher taxed vehicle.

There's a well-researched phenomenon called Transport Related Social Exclusion (sometimes "Inclusion" depending on which angle you're coming at it from) where people are poor *because* they have to own a vehicle - sometimes things like antisocial hours working, jobs/opportunities in areas poorly served by P/T etc - and they're essentially working to afford the car which they need to work. Vicious circle which is almost impossible to break. You can't afford to sell the car and buy a new one (and chances are the car you're driving is a cheap old thing anyway), you can't afford not to have a car so you're trapped in this circle where you're missing out on better employment, better social life etc by virtue of being in a car-dependent lifestyle.

It's a bit like being in debt but never getting out of debt because everything you're earning is paying to service the debt rather than going into savings.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 10:13 am
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I would argue the airport is a far bigger contributor to pollution and poor air quality than any group of vehicle’s on the road.

What I'm hearing here is that we should get rid of airports.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 10:22 am
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@crazy-legs sounds a similar thing to "house poor"

I don't agree with the whole ULEZ stuff, yet just another pointless tax. Remember the wood burner tax? And the pasty tax? And the sugar tax?

All of these things were pushed out with a guise of "helping everyone" where in reality they're nothing more than coffer liners for the government. If people want things they will still pay for them even if its a marginal extra cost. Look at the amount of people (stereotyping here) who have lived a life on the dole, complain they've got no money for food and going to the food bank but jaden has his PS5 and a 42" telly whilst mam and dad are still smoking 20 lamberts a day. It's all about peoples priorities, in the case of ULEZ it is slightly different though.

More to the point what is the wider reasoning behind this? Is it to get more money from the public? Or is it to reduce emissions? Or is it another reason?

On a global scale we are 17th contributing 1.03% of global emissions. I think broadly speaking, we would be better off educating and holding other countries to account for their contributions whilst continuing to lead by example, and ULEZ isn't that.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 10:24 am
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Love these examples of Schroedingers poor who simultaneously cannot afford a compliant car but can also afford to drive here there and everywhere in a less efficient and higher taxed vehicle.

It's an example of a poverty trap.

The owner of an electric taxi in London told me last week that he gets about 60miles from a charge

That is a cheap old EV, probably a 1st gen Nissan Leaf.  More modern EVs get more than that of course.   And whilst they are expensive, they are now often cheaper than their ICE equivalents.  Hyundai Ioniqs are a pretty popular choice for taxis around here, and for used cars the EV version is the same price as the hybrid ICE.  And they do 180 miles on a charge in the real world.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 10:24 am
 DrJ
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What I’m hearing here is that we should get rid of airports.

Well I did hear that Uxbridge's MP was going to lie down in front of diggers rather than allow a 3rd runway at Heathrow.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 10:29 am
dissonance reacted
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total journey times ie including parking up etc are very similar to cars IIRC and its relatively cheap.

Genuinely interested - is that from any point to any point?  In Cardiff, you can get from certain places into the city centre in a similar time to driving, and the cost is comparable to parking.  But from other locations, it's twice as long - and if you don't want to go to or from the city centre it takes many times longer.  Like 1.5hrs to do a journey that would take 15 mins in a car.  This is not only because the bus network does not support these trips - the road network doesn't support the necessary bus routes either, because of piss-poor city planning post 1980s.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 10:32 am
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That is a cheap old EV, probably a 1st gen Nissan Leaf.

Nah, it was the electric taxi we were sitting in when we were having the convo. It was pretty new.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 10:32 am
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On a global scale we are 17th contributing 1.03% of global emissions. I think broadly speaking, we would be better off educating and holding other countries to account for their contributions whilst continuing to lead by example, and ULEZ isn’t that.

Total shite and yet another bit of whataboutery. We shouldn't do anything cos "they" are worse.
We shouldn't bother with looking at traffic in London because Heathrow exists. We shouldn't bother reducing our own transport emissions because China, because power stations, because wood burners...

🙄


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 10:33 am
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Look at the amount of people (stereotyping here) who have lived a life on the dole, complain they’ve got no money for food and going to the food bank but jaden has his PS5 and a 42″ telly whilst mam and dad are still smoking 20 lamberts a day.

No. Just no.  That's a massively ignorant thing to say.  Sure, there might be some people like that, but to use them to justify actively harming millions of people you know nothing about is a truly ****ing horrible thing to do. Have a word with yourself.

Why do you assume the worst of people?  Why would assume that people's complaints are fabricated and that people are lying because they're stupid and lazy?  Really? I can't express strongly enough how abhorrent this attitude is.

Nah, it was the electric taxi we were sitting in when we were having the convo. It was pretty new.

I'd love to know what it was.  Very small?  I don't think there are any EVs on sale now with that sort of range unless you get a small city car like a Smart ForFour.  He's certainly chosen absolutely the wrong car if that's the case.  I can categorically say that you can easily get cars with much more range than that for not a lot of money.  Sure, he's driving around town, but that is actually more efficient than the open road for EVs.  So either he's clueless, bullshitting, or he's chosen a terrible car.


 
Posted : 30/08/2023 10:35 am
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