Drivers May Be ‘High and Dry’

Motorists could be left “high and dry” by road pricing unless more money is invested in public transport alternatives, local council leaders told the Government today.

Road pricing is a real opportunity to ease congestion and help the environment, the Local Government Association (LGA) said in a letter to the Department for Transport.

But council leaders warned that pricing schemes would simply not work in parts of the country because public transport in its current state did not offer drivers good enough alternatives.

The LGA said town halls were concerned that the money on offer for the first round of road charging trials was unlikely to be enough. While pounds 1.4 billion has been set aside for all potential schemes, Manchester alone estimated that the cost of introducing an effective road pricing scheme could top pounds 3 billion. The LGA is calling for an overhaul of public transport that would allow councils to step in to develop a genuinely integrated transport system that would link up all kinds of local public transport, which would allow rail and bus services to link up more effectively and give councils the power to step in to guarantee important local bus services.

LGA transport spokesman Councillor David Sparks said: “Councils want to be able to make road pricing work.

“But, it would be grossly unfair to force people out of their cars if there are not enough buses, trains and trams to give road users a viable alternative.

“This would simply be leaving drivers high and dry.”

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