Thursday 26 May 2011

"Not much"

DBC Reed left the following comment on my post For whom the bridge tolls (2):

A fairly beneficent toll is the London Congestion Charge, emanating from the same Georgist-minded people like Dave Wetzel who created the near-mythical (although it actually happened)Fares Fair scheme which subsidised tranport out of the rates.

Do you know how much London fares could be reduced by cross subsidies from Congestion Charge receipts?


Ho hum.

The total budget of Transport for London is about £5.6 billion (2010 accounts), £3.6 billion of  which is paid for by fares, advertising revenues etc, and the rest is made up of all manner of grants, cross charges and a £400 million accounting deficit.

Income and expenditure from the Congestion Charge scheme is included in those accounts, showing net income (i.e. income minus expenditure) of £158 million.

So the words "not much" spring to mind.

IMHO, the Congestion Charge is not really a revenue raising measure, it is a rationing measure. Even if net revenues were zero, it might still be worth doing if it ensured that those people who really need to drive around London can do so more smoothly, and those who don't really need to drive can take the bus or train instead. Emphasis on "might". Simply turning off the traffic lights would probably achieve the same end, as well as saving a chunk of money.

3 comments:

DBC Reed said...

Many thanks for doing the Hard Sumz.
Might have known it would have amounted to a whole lot of not very much.Ah well ,here's to Fares fair #2 minus law lords and plus full LVT,all sure to happen in "a land that's fair and bright.. with the humming of the bees in the cigarette trees/by the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings"
BTW did you know that this "children's song" was originally stunningly obscene and described pedrasty on the road?

Mark Wadsworth said...

DBC, Big rock candy mountain? No, I didn't know that.

DBC Reed said...

The bloke who first recorded it was accused of putting his name to The Big Rock Candy Mountain when it was ,in fact ,an old song in the public domain.He countered by citing the old words (very rude) as proof of how much he's changed them to make a new song.The old words are printed out on the Wikipedia entry for Big Rock C M .