Published: Thursday, 25th September, 2008 11:30
EXCLUSIVE: Congestion charge timescale announced
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TRANSPORT bosses have unveiled a raft of congestion-busting schemes which they hope to implement over the next 10 years.
A peak time, inbound-only, non-residents £2 congestion charge is being considered for 2016, if eight other major projects fail to shift through-traffic from Reading borough’s snarled-up junctions and roads.
The measures will only happen if Reading is successful in its bid, with neighbouring councils, for Government Transport Innovation Fund (Tif) cash totalling around £300m.
Reading’s transport supremo Pat Baxter said: “It’s entirely up to the politicians now where we go with all this. In Government terms, as far as major funding is concerned, Tif is the only game in town.”
Measures being planned include a 30% cut in bus fares within the next year or two, a new east Reading park and ride scheme by 2011, a west Reading park and ride by 2012, a Shinfield park and ride by 2013, and a low emission zone to shift lorries off minor roads and onto trunk roads outside borough boundaries.
Other big schemes include a mass rapid transit (MRT) system - more likely to involve electronically-guided buses and special traffic lights rather than trams - with three branches. A southern line could be seen as early as 2010, an eastern line in 2012/2013, and a western line in 2013, with a proposed hub at the redeveloped Reading Station.
The longed-for third Thames bridge just to the east of the borough will be built in 2018 at the earliest.
If congestion keeps getting worse once all these measures are in place, people living outside Greater Reading could be hit with a congestion charge to enter the borough. The precise zone has yet to be defined, but borough transport leader Tony Page said it is likely to include Woodley, Earley, Pangbourne, Purley, and could stretch as far north as Shiplake.
Transport planners have used computer modelling to track the likely effects of charges ranging from £1 right up to a pie-in-the-sky £32, but think a £2 charge is the most feasible.
Cllr Page said: “Nobody wants to see a congestion charge for the sake of it. If the other measures achieve a modal shift, and coupled with a low emission zone we see improvements, we may not require congestion charging.
“The mood music in my meetings with neighbouring authorities has been positive, now they’ve realised how a successful Tif bid could benefit them too and save them money.
“A 30% reduction in bus fares in a year’s time is not unrealistic, the challenge is capacity.”
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