The AA has suggested a system of ‘travel rationing’ as a way of relieving the impact of an expanded Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), after its research found a minority of drivers fear being ‘priced off the road’.
The motoring organisation said that up to 300,000 car-owning London residents are expected to be impacted by the expansion of the ULEZ to outer London, with large numbers of them unable to afford a replacement car that complies with its emissions standards.
It added that the ULEZ impact assessment commissioned by Transport for London identified many of these people as living in deprived areas and showed that large areas of outer London have low to minimal access to public transport.
London mayor Sadiq Khan has argued that the ULEZ is necessary to tackle toxic air pollution, which mainly comes from road vehicles, and that its expansion to outer London in August will increase its benefits.
Breathing clean air shouldn’t be a privilege.
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) June 30, 2023
New analysis shows we’re living in a divided city. Poorer Londoners, Black, Asian and minority ethnic Londoners and Londoners from migrant backgrounds breathe more polluted air. https://t.co/HzPPQbCm6k
The judicial review court challenge to the mayor's ULEZ plans takes place this week.
If the mayor was successful in defending the policy, the AA suggested measures could greatly relieve the impact of the ULEZ on poorer and older Londoners or act an alternative to the ULEZ.
1. Travel rationing, as happens in Oxford, would allow people them to travel a certain number of days a year; or time-limited exemptions, as apply to Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone.
2. As an alternative to the ULEZ, the AA suggested a park and ride/park and cycle scheme, similar to a scheme in Cambridge, which ‘would not only cut emissions and congestion but would continue to do so long after the ULEZ non-compliant vehicles have gone on the scrap heap’.
AA researchers surveyed 948 Londoners and found that giving up their cars would:
- be a threat to their health (22%) or wellbeing (24%);
- put them under a night-time curfew (23%);
- leave them feeling marooned (39%);
- wreck family life (44%);
- or force them to find a new job (17%).
AA president Edmund King said: ‘Everyone wants cleaner air but the AA survey among our London members shows that, for those that can’t afford to upgrade their cars and now face being priced off the road, the expanded ULEZ’s daily charges are a threat to their health, their well-being, their safety and family life.’
