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Tolls and charges are vote losers, politicians are told
publication date: Jul 30, 2009
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author/source: Robin Roberts
| The British drivers' love of their cars is
undiminished and they will put up with jam rather than use buses or
trains, while their loathing of plans for tolls is rising, according to
studies for the two main motoring organisations. | Over half of all motorists would rather take the chance of being stuck in a traffic jam than get on public transport.
| | TOLLS ARE VOTE LOSERS | Opposition towards local road charging schemes aimed at cutting congestion has hardened over the past eight years.
These are amongst the key findings of 'The Congestion
Challenge', a report summarising a new survey on car use and
congestion, published today by the RAC Foundation and Ipsos MORI.
The
report reveals the public appear to have resigned themselves to a
congested, low-performance future. They remain unconvinced about
alternatives to the car, and are generally unsupportive of ways to
reduce congestion unless these are paid for out of the 'public purse'.
Additional charges for travel into town centres
and on motorways, no matter what the caveats, are unpopular.
As
for alternatives to driving, just over three out of ten drivers think
it likely they will use public transport to make a journey currently
made by car over the next year.
Despite Government rhetoric about
improving public transport fewer than three in ten people are
optimistic about the future of train and bus services, with the
majority believing performance will stay constant or worsen.
Professor Stephen Glaister, Director of the RAC Foundation says, "Over
time people have come to regard congestion as less of an issue.
"But
this flies in the face of the fact that congestion is increasing, so
the depressing reality must be that motorists have become resigned to
it. The public are also extremely pessimistic about what they expect
from tomorrow's transport system. This is an indictment of the
politicians who have repeatedly failed to tackle it in a meaningful
way."
"People are reliant on their cars and although there is
widespread support for improvements in public transport, only a
minority say they would switch to it in the near future." | |
The vast majority of drivers still enjoy motoring and
oppose tolls or congestion charging, according to a report pulling
together results from the AA Populus panel, the largest dedicated
motoring panel in Europe .
Transport economists talk up road pricing
but any political party proposing tolls or road pricing are treading on
dangerous ground, according to AA surveys.
Last week David Cameron MP raised the prospect of tolls on new roads if the Tories won the next general election.
Commenting
Edmund King, AA President said, “Despite all the doom and gloom of high
fuel costs, cones and congestion, 82pc of drivers still enjoy motoring
and the freedom and flexibility the car affords them and 79pc could not
imagine life without the car.
“Tolls are still unpopular and
despite the increase in rail travel and cycling in some areas, the vast
majority of journeys are by car. The car has that great advantage of
taking people where they want to go, when they want to go, in comfort.
Drivers will not thank any political party trying to force them out of
their car onto public transport by increasing the cost of motoring.”
In various AA Populus polls of between 12,000 and 17,500 drivers:
Drivers
were divided on the principle of national pay as you go motoring with
45pc opposed and 42pc in support, but 86pc do not trust govt to deliver
a fair system of road pricing.
It found 77pc opposed local
congestion charging schemes, 58pc oppose High Occupancy Toll lanes and
only 1pc would regularly use Toll lanes.
About 75pc of drivers don’t think any of the political parties are “motorist friendly”. | | | | | "It is apparent that radical approaches to easing
congestion will be difficult for politicians to sell to a sceptical
population. This was proved in Manchester where there was an
overwhelming rejection of a local congestion charging scheme. But as
MPs on the Transport Select Committee recognised last week, doing
nothing is not an option and some sort of national scheme might be
necessary. It is the job of politicians to convince those
understandably wary motorists of the benefits. They must not shy away
from the challenge just because it is hard."
"However almost three quarters of motorists do back the widening of existing motorways and 65pc
support variable speed limits on motorways to keep traffic flowing
smoothly. Ministers have a duty to properly fund the Highways Agency so
it can deliver these policies."
"There will be increasing pressure
to reduce car use to help meet climate change objectives. Managing
demand has a part to play, but the survey shows over three quarters of
drivers would find it difficult to adjust to life without a car. It
might be an unpalatable truth for some but cars are the true public
transport - they transport most of the people, most of the time. The
challenge is to make vehicles smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient,
not eradicate them." |
The survey found: | | * 53pc of drivers say they would rather risk being stuck in a traffic jam than take public transport.
* Though at the same time 77pc support increasing the number and frequency of buses as a way of tackling traffic growth.
* 41pc of drivers consider congestion to be a serious problem in their local area, a figure that has fallen from 63pc in 1999.
* Yet 61pc of drivers think congestion will rise over the next five years.
* 44pc
of drivers oppose any form of congestion charge for driving into the
centre of towns and cities even if the money is spent on improving
local transport. That compares with 32pc in 2001.
* Support for such congestion charging schemes has fallen from 54pc to 41pc over the same period. |
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