"Chelsea tractors" face daily $50 charge in London
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-chelsea_hundleyaug11,1,5531900.story
Ken Livingston, London's mayor, says he's has had enough of what he calls, "Chelsea tractors." That's what we Yanks call an SUV, and Livingston thinks its time their owners pay for the damage he says they're causing to the environment. Chelsea, by the way, is a rather tony neighborhood of London known for extravagant living including large SUVs.
"The highest CO2-emitting cars -- like some of the so-called Chelsea tractors, high-powered sports cars and luxury executive cars -- can produce twice as much carbon dioxide as the kind of car driven by the average Londoner," the Livingston said in a story by The Chicago Tribune.
The plan proposed by London's controversial mayor is to charge owners of these less-than-thrifty vehicles $50 a day to drive them within London's congestion zone. Already all drivers in that area pay a $16-per-day fee, but residents living in the zone get a 90% discount. But SUV drivers would not be given any discount and would have to pay the full $50 fee, regardless.
The original $16 fee has cut London traffic by 20% and emissions by 15%, officials say. The newly proposed fee might be enough to reduce pollution even further. The Tribune's story quotes one SUV driver who said a $50 fee would be enough for him to move his SUV to his rural Scottish estate and drive a more economical car while staying at his Chelsea residence.
[Source: The Chicago Tribune]
Ken Livingston, London's mayor, says he's has had enough of what he calls, "Chelsea tractors." That's what we Yanks call an SUV, and Livingston thinks its time their owners pay for the damage he says they're causing to the environment. Chelsea, by the way, is a rather tony neighborhood of London known for extravagant living including large SUVs."The highest CO2-emitting cars -- like some of the so-called Chelsea tractors, high-powered sports cars and luxury executive cars -- can produce twice as much carbon dioxide as the kind of car driven by the average Londoner," the Livingston said in a story by The Chicago Tribune.
The plan proposed by London's controversial mayor is to charge owners of these less-than-thrifty vehicles $50 a day to drive them within London's congestion zone. Already all drivers in that area pay a $16-per-day fee, but residents living in the zone get a 90% discount. But SUV drivers would not be given any discount and would have to pay the full $50 fee, regardless.
The original $16 fee has cut London traffic by 20% and emissions by 15%, officials say. The newly proposed fee might be enough to reduce pollution even further. The Tribune's story quotes one SUV driver who said a $50 fee would be enough for him to move his SUV to his rural Scottish estate and drive a more economical car while staying at his Chelsea residence.
[Source: The Chicago Tribune]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
jgp 2:13PM (8/12/2007)
Wow, what a communist.
Move to Cuba, douchebag.
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paul34 2:28PM (8/12/2007)
What, what an ignorant Autoblog commenter. Do you even know what communism is?
I find only very uneducated individuals label everything they do not understand as "communism," and usually further the point by saying "move to Cuba," as if that is meant as an insult of some sort.
AMcA 3:11PM (8/12/2007)
It's not communism, even if it is motivated by the same class animus. It's nanny-stateism. It's "you're really ignorant little people, so do waht we say."
Fortunately, that sort of thing isn't well tolerated in the US. Viva Ron Reagan!
vdk 3:21PM (8/12/2007)
Unfortunately that sort of thing isn't tolerated in the US but it will be eventually. We're slowly but surely suffocating, maybe it's time to dump your big old SUV who eats 2 gallons every mile.
john 8:45PM (8/12/2007)
Actually it is closer to socialism, then communism.
We have that here in America also, it's called the Democratic Party.
Don 8:25PM (8/12/2007)
God spare us from these little Hitlers.
psarhjinian 9:39AM (8/13/2007)
In any other first-world nation, the US Democratic party would be a right-wing organization. The Republicans, by contrast, would be lunatic fringe.
The Democrats aren't socialists. Not even close.
Anyways, he's right to say that a large or fuel-guzzling vehicle costs more, in terms of infrastructure. They already pay a heavy fuel tax, they already pay parking fees, what's one more (small) fee when you're already paying a lot of money for what's essentially a luxury item anyways?
Guenther 11:58AM (8/13/2007)
Hmm, $50 a day is $18250 dollars a year! hardly a small sum. And SUV do not make traffic any worse, as their foot-print on the road tends to be the same a a corresponding saloon (sedan )
SOhp101 2:27PM (8/12/2007)
Wow, what an awesome idea!
They should do that here in LA. While I'm all for small government, this is one area where they need to step in.
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iDevin 2:35PM (8/12/2007)
Agreed, I'm not sure why this hasn't caught on here at least in very congested cities with densely populated cores like New York. It'd be hard to manage in LA since everything is so spread out, but as a LA resident I'd be all for this type of congestion charge scheme if they could just work out the details.
LeRobert 2:56PM (8/12/2007)
I'm all for removing roads entirely and replacing them with green space and cycling paths. The Tube is one of the best metro systems in existence; there simply aren't any reasons to 'drive' in London ('inching along' is the more appropriate term).
However, singling out the SUV drivers doesn't seem fair to me. A cab in London, driving and idling an entire day in city centre, most certainly produces more pollutants than an SUV used to commute to and from work, though the cab would surely be obliged to pay less congestion tax.
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Jason 8:20PM (8/12/2007)
good god, have you been on the tube? even before the 'congestion tax' the freaking thing was absolutely jammed with people. I can imagine that the tax has lowered traffic and the like, but unless they put in more tracks and more trains, then it's only going to be worse on the Tube. and while i'm all for lowering emissions to make the world a better place, putting such an inhibitive tax on that is just ludicrous in my opinion, especially on sports cars *and* suv's.
Andrew 3:09PM (8/12/2007)
while i dislike soccer mom SUVs, i think this is absolutely ludicrous. $50 a day is a HUGE amount of money. and while we're on the environment concern part, what about hybrid vehicles and disposing their batteries? might not emit CO2, but it sure isn't environmentally friendly.
and let's not forget that global warming isn't necessarily going to doom the world, and may just be part of a temperature cycle.
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Artie43 3:18PM (8/12/2007)
I would support any carbon tax on vehicles in the US that are big polluters. This will spur the creation of mass transit and improve the congestion on our roads and intetstates. We can all go on a carbon/food diet and start living healthfully. Time to start walking/bicycling and getting to know our neighbors again. Just like in the good old days. I normally make jokes about the good old days but having a true neighborhood was one of their real benefits.
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John 3:19PM (8/12/2007)
The thing about Livingston is that he actually IS a communist-- hence his apparently endearing nickname, 'Red Ken.' He's also one of these radical leftists that sympathize with Islamic terrorists, even though the Islamic radicals, if they were in charge, would execute people like Livingston. Not that he doesn't deserve it.
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vdk 3:23PM (8/12/2007)
Want communism, okay, why are you expressing your stupid idiotic opinion on autoblog? It's rubbish all you people can do is talk crap, you don't even know who the guy is but still talk all this crap about him. Why? Maybe because you feel inferior?
John 4:23PM (8/12/2007)
Why are you so touchy about Livingston's far left political views? That's how he describes himself, isn't it?
All I'm saying is, people like Livingston are tumors in the body of the West, and they should be excised. Unfortunately, the freedoms that Livingston disbelieves are the same freedoms that protect him. Eventually the British will pay for their tolerance, unless they adopt the Franco (or Pinochet or Sukarno etc.) approach to radical leftists... bury every single one of them.
Matt 5:04PM (8/12/2007)
This sounds like they are discriminating against rich people since he is calling SUVs "Chelsea Tractors," rather than plain SUVs. Chelsea is apparently a posh area. He also mentions sports cars and luxury cars.
If he thinks that owners should pay a proportionate amount to the damage they do to the environment, then shouldn't he also apply such a theory to the welfare system? How about poor people who depend on the welfare system also do a proportionate amount of work for the city. Maybe they have to work 8 hours a week cleaning up the city for free.
Just like he wants to discriminate against richer people by making them pay a higher fee, he should discriminate against poor people by making them work for free.
Doesn't sound right, huh? I am AGAINST discrimination based on anything and I think the fee should be equal for everyone who uses the roads, rich or poor. It seems like the government is increasingly trying to control people. People should be allowed to drive what ever they want.
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lintsniffer 3:46PM (8/12/2007)
I think it's time governments stopped trying to control citizen's behavior through taxes and tax breaks.
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Big Rocket 3:50PM (8/12/2007)
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
If your goal is to cut down on CO2 and other pollutants, then mandate a tailpipe emissions test on all vehicles during license renewal every year (or every few years, as in California). The license renewal fee depends on how well a vehicle passes the test, or how poorly it flunks it. Knee-jerk politicians like Ken Livingston, as well as their supporters, simply do not understand (or care) that a new, well-maintained SUV can be much more environmentally friendly than a musclecar from the 60's.
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