It's results day tomorrow night/Friday morning for one of the most controversial transportation plans. The congestion charge for the entire district of Greater Manchester (not just the centre of Manchester like it is in London) is proposed to come in 2013, but we have the opportunity to vote.

 

So, who out of the Manc's are voting and if so, in which box?

 

I'm voting NO to the charge!

Edited December 10, 200816 yr by ScottyEm

id vote no.... they are considering on here in derby... public transports a farce, and why should the local council build endlessly around the suburbs of derby, then expect the SAXON infrastructure to cope with it?... :lol: barmy! like.... when most of our roads were formed derbys population was about 500...lol..

 

its yet another daft way of trying to scam money out of motorists.

id vote no.... they are considering on here in derby... public transports a farce, and why should the local council build endlessly around the suburbs of derby, then expect the SAXON infrastructure to cope with it?... :lol: barmy! like.... when most of our roads were formed derbys population was about 500...lol..

 

its yet another daft way of trying to scam money out of motorists.

 

In Derby? It's not even that big a city, this is silly.

 

From conversations I've had, it's gonna be a landslide NO! but I'm sure, one way or another, some sort of charge will come into force.

In Derby? It's not even that big a city, this is silly.

 

From conversations I've had, it's gonna be a landslide NO! but I'm sure, one way or another, some sort of charge will come into force.

 

derby, nottingham and leicester... but i think its dropped. our congestion is bad at peak times, small city yes, big congestion probs yes!

derby, nottingham and leicester... but i think its dropped. our congestion is bad at peak times, small city yes, big congestion probs yes!

 

I think every major town and city has it's congestion problems. None worse than crawling up the dreaded A6 in rush hour, however...

If I was a Manc, I'd be voting no.

 

Jo's family have, and she's the only one that doesn't live in Manchester.

See I think congestion charging IS a good idea. BUT you have to do something else, there's never any viable alternative! With London the figures were stupid, something like a 5% decrease in car use would lead to a 50% INCREASE in public transport use and there's no way of that it can hold that amount of people!

If the NOs win then I hope we'll hear no more whingeing about congestion from motorists. Unfortunately most car drivers think more people should use alternative means of transport but always find some reaon not to do it themselves.

I don't drive, although I intend to drive soon (the main reason I voted no).

 

I'm lucky I don't even need to rely on public transport, I live within walking distance to work....

 

I wonder how long there it will be before they introduce a "pedestrian congestion charge"... can you imagine!

Edited December 11, 200816 yr by ScottyEm

I was opposed to the charge ...... until I actually read the proposals properly.

 

The window for charging is very short, and I actually feel the majority of people could avoid it. In fact on the local news' reporting, the man who was being an example of someone who will pay the full charge everyday, he only had to set off for work 10 minutes earlier to miss it!!!

 

Altho I do regularly travel into the centre of Manchester I can see no need for me to travel during the charging windows - or in the direction of the charge.

Actually travelling on the roads into Manchester during the times proposed for charging is a nightmare and if it makes people rethink their travel plans then can only be good.

 

And if all the promised extra metro lines and extra train stops appear I know will reduce my taxi duties greatly!!!

 

What I am opposed to is the government identifying a real need for these improvements but threatening to snatch all the funding away if the charge doesn't go ahead.

 

This whole thing has been a HUGE waste of money - you can't move for YES / NO vote hordings or leaflets - the vote must have cost a fortune - could have used it to actually make a few of the improvements aready!!!!

If the NOs win then I hope we'll hear no more whingeing about congestion from motorists. Unfortunately most car drivers think more people should use alternative means of transport but always find some reaon not to do it themselves.

 

 

I kind of agree - but my belief is the congestion charge is only good if you're quite willing to see the end of city centres as we know them - people with cars simpy will not use alternative methods of transport...and if charges come into place, all it will mean is yes, less cars - but also far, far less people...because they'll find altertnatives to the city to shop - and hence the rise of ghastly soulless generic out of town shopping malls.

I kind of agree - but my belief is the congestion charge is only good if you're quite willing to see the end of city centres as we know them - people with cars simpy will not use alternative methods of transport...and if charges come into place, all it will mean is yes, less cars - but also far, far less people...because they'll find altertnatives to the city to shop - and hence the rise of ghastly soulless generic out of town shopping malls.

 

i agree....

 

why pass your test and buy a car only to use public transport? and often public transport doesnt go to your destination. clare for eg HAS to get a car after arriva stopped the bus service that took her to her work. the idea was that now she catches 2 busses.... but the second one never turns up! this morning she was 30 mins late.

If you come up with plans to try to persuade people to use their cars less (ie, congestion charging), then you have to actually have the Public Transport improvements in place to cope with the extra demand... Joined up thinking one would have thought.... I'm in favour of the congestion charge in London because it IS a serious problem... Boris' idiotic moves recently to scrap the C-Charge in the West of the city is just going to cause enormous traffic problems, esp around Shepherds Bush where they built that awful Westfields mall... I know people in Shepherd's Bush, they tell me a congestion problem has now become a nightmare, with people literally walking faster than the cars are moving.... But Blinkered Boris doesn't seem to see the problems...

 

Rob's brought up a salient point about bus companies scrapping routes... Hmmm, that route wouldn't have been scrapped because it wasn't all that profitable by any chance would it....? :rolleyes: Therein lies another problem - PUBLIC transport being in PRIVATE ownership, so they can do that sort of thing and they're pretty much accountable to no one.....

 

I could see it being necessary in the likes of Manchester and Edinburgh city centres as well tbh, but having it cover a WHOLE city is just pretty daft....

been announced that it was rejected .... voted no.

been announced that it was rejected .... voted no.

 

Not surprising... they made the proposed zone way to large... It should really only be where the problems are actually located...

 

I was opposed to the charge ...... until I actually read the proposals properly.

 

The window for charging is very short, and I actually feel the majority of people could avoid it. In fact on the local news' reporting, the man who was being an example of someone who will pay the full charge everyday, he only had to set off for work 10 minutes earlier to miss it!!!

 

Altho I do regularly travel into the centre of Manchester I can see no need for me to travel during the charging windows - or in the direction of the charge.

Actually travelling on the roads into Manchester during the times proposed for charging is a nightmare and if it makes people rethink their travel plans then can only be good.

 

And if all the promised extra metro lines and extra train stops appear I know will reduce my taxi duties greatly!!!

 

What I am opposed to is the government identifying a real need for these improvements but threatening to snatch all the funding away if the charge doesn't go ahead.

 

This whole thing has been a HUGE waste of money - you can't move for YES / NO vote hordings or leaflets - the vote must have cost a fortune - could have used it to actually make a few of the improvements aready!!!!

Unfortunately most people vote on the basis of a knee-jerk reaction rather than reading the facts first. Someone on the radio this morning was going on about people having to pay the charge when going to see their doctor. If the charge would only have operated in peak hours, this argument is clearly nonsense. That's without looking at how many people would actually have needed to drive into or out of the congestion zone to get to their doctor.

 

Unfortunately most people vote on the basis of a knee-jerk reaction rather than reading the facts first. Someone on the radio this morning was going on about people having to pay the charge when going to see their doctor. If the charge would only have operated in peak hours, this argument is clearly nonsense. That's without looking at how many people would actually have needed to drive into or out of the congestion zone to get to their doctor.

 

I considered carefully both sides of the arguement, but I still voted no.

 

Even with the charge in place, the majority of people who drive to work would STILL be better off driving into work despite having to pay a congestion charge. I firmly believe Manchester council and indeed the government don't give a toss about the pollution, the environment etc - they just want money! I'm shocked they put it up for public vote!

 

It was a landslide NO result, and thank god for that!

Unfortunately most people vote on the basis of a knee-jerk reaction rather than reading the facts first. Someone on the radio this morning was going on about people having to pay the charge when going to see their doctor. If the charge would only have operated in peak hours, this argument is clearly nonsense. That's without looking at how many people would actually have needed to drive into or out of the congestion zone to get to their doctor.

 

thin edge of the wedge m8..... once its voted in who will be able to say no to a wider charge? who could say no to an extra half hour here and there, besides we motorists are already being taxed to fcuk .

 

the way around peak time congestion is to get firms to stagger their clocking on/off times.

I forgot to vote! but i wanted it to be rejected anyway =]

thin edge of the wedge m8..... once its voted in who will be able to say no to a wider charge? who could say no to an extra half hour here and there, besides we motorists are already being taxed to fcuk .

 

the way around peak time congestion is to get firms to stagger their clocking on/off times.

The real cost of motoring has been falling steadily for decades. At the same time, the real cost of public transport has been rising steadily.

 

Another way around congestion is for firms to refuse parking permits to people who could easily travel to work by other menas whether that be public transport, walking, cycling or whatever. Roughly 50% of car journeys are under two miles, i.e. easy cycling distance.