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Congestion charge schemes will target motorcycles |
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Another nail in the idea of freedom to travel comes this week with the news that two pilot-road charging schemes will include motorcycles and scooters. The Manchester City Council scheme will charge all motorcycles and scooters, "but at a discounted rate" according to a spokesman. The scheme could be in operation by 2012 and plans have been submitted to the Department for Transport for £3 billion worth of funding under the Transport Innovation Fund scheme, which predicates local public transport improvements with the adoption of road charging. Critics have described the system as a government bribe to councils to adopt road charging. The Manchester scheme, which charges motorists up to £5 per day when they cross two concentric rings round the city, uses a tag-and-beacon charging system, which means that cars and bikes will have to be fitted with sensors so they can be monitored. It is the first of ten such pilot schemes across the country, and Manchester's plans to charge bikes will be copied by all. At the same time, the DfT has announced that bikes will likely be included in trials of a national road-pricing scheme starting next spring. In a story first run in Motor Cycle News, the DfT confirmed that no money will be charged and that bikes will be ridden by volunteers. The trials will evaluate systems such as tag and beacon and pave the way for a national road pricing scheme. As yet, no one has been able to explain to the Motoring desk how motorcycles cause congestion
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News (Making Progress) 