The future of road user charging in London

Thousands of Londoners have told the London Assembly their views on a future road charging scheme in London.

The London Assembly Transport Committee has today published its report – ‘Future Road User Charging in London’ – following a two-part investigation in the 2022-23 Assembly term.

The report recommends that should any future Mayor or government decide to introduce a future road user charging scheme in London, all potential revenue generated must be assigned to a programme of early improvements to public transport in London, with a significant proportion delivered ahead of introduction.

A Committee Call for Evidence received over 3,300 responses from both individuals and organisations, the highest number of responses to any London Assembly Call for Evidence in the 2022-23 Assembly term. It identified significant concerns about the prospect of any new scheme and that privacy concerns and the provision of alternative transport to driving should be key considerations.

Road user charging, also known as congestion charging, road pricing or smart road charging, describes broadly any process whereby motorists are required to pay for driving on public roads.

The investigation focused on examining the practical issues around the potential introduction of a future new, smarter road user charging scheme in London. It did not seek to find consensus between the cross-party members of the Committee on whether or not a new road user charging scheme should be introduced in London, or what any scheme might look like.

The first meeting – held in December 2022 - saw the Committee speak with experts, campaigners and road user groups, with the second meeting – held in February 2023 - focused on policy makers and advisers. Given the importance of this topic to Londoners, the Committee published the Call for Evidence as part of its investigation, which was open to anyone who wished to respond and submit evidence from 9 February 2023 until 10 March 2023.

The Committee’s report has 11 recommendations for the Mayor and government. These include:

• A key principle any future Mayor or government who wished to introduce a new, smart road user charging scheme needs to consider is that using it should be as simple as possible.
• If any future Mayor or government wants to further develop a possible future road user charging scheme in London, they should at a very early stage ensure there is a working group that includes representatives from all relevant stakeholders that will demographically and geographically represent Londoners.
• All potential revenue generated must be assigned to a programme of early improvements to public transport in London, with a significant proportion delivered ahead of introduction. These improvements could be financed by a loan based on anticipated income from a scheme.
• Before any future road user charging scheme is considered, by any future Mayor or government, there should be an open, early, wide and well-publicised public engagement exercise, allowing people to give their views on next steps and shape any scheme design from the very start.

Siân Berry AM, Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee throughout the investigation, said:

“This report does not seek to find cross-party consensus on whether or not a smarter road user charging scheme should be introduced in London, or what any scheme might look like.

“Instead, our Committee aimed to explore and present the issues that would need to be considered as part of the development of any future scheme alongside recommendations to any future Mayor or government, that was to consider introducing a new scheme.

“The huge reaction we received to our Call for Evidence - over 3,300 responses received - highlights the interest Londoners have in this topic, and the Committee is grateful for all of the feedback given.

“The Mayor has broad powers to introduce a range of new charging schemes, as does the national government.

“While the current Mayor has made clear that there are no plans in the immediate term for new road user charging schemes in London, it is vital that the Assembly outlines how the key findings of our investigation will help shape any future work on this issue within the City Hall.

“There is much that any future Mayor or government can learn from our recommendations if they were to consider one day exploring this idea.”