Traffic congestion in London appears to be getting inexorably worse despite the London Congestion Charge, according to a new report.
It meant drivers in the capital spent around 82 hours last year stuck in traffic (a 13% increase on 2012), according to a new report from Inrix.
The report, based on journey data from GPS-equipped vehicles and mobile devices, suggests London suffered the biggest rise in congestion out of 18 UK cities last year.
It also shows drivers across the UK wasted around 30 hours in congestion during 2013, up over 3% on 2012.
Congestion charge has not failed
A spokesman for TfL told MT the figures did not indicate the London Congestion Charge had failed. "If you look at the vehicles entering London, it has reduced the number doing so during the day, which is obviously keeping the roads moving," he said.
FTA head of policy for London, Natalie Chapman, told MT congestion remained "a big cost to our industry in terms of time" and said there was "a real challenge in the capital" due to an expected rise in population of 1.6 million people by 2031.
TfL has indicated at a recent Roads Task Force meeting that without further action, that growth will lead to a 60% rise in congestion in central London. There would also be a 25% rise in inner London and a 15% increase in outer London. "Clearly, they’ve got to do something," said Chapman.
RHA director of policy Jack Semple said London’s roads were now "quite notorious" and that congestion elsewhere was also a growing problem, especially in view of the backlog of repairs now needed across the road network after this year’s extreme weather.
"I have no significant worry for England on Highways Agency-run roads but a big concern about everywhere else. The funding streams simply aren’t there and we face real concern about rapid further deterioration," he said.
A spokesman for the DfT stressed that the government had committed more than £24bn to improving the road network during this parliament and the next, adding that the investment would deliver "a high-performing network that can cope with the pressure of the expected increase in traffic over coming decades".
TfL has recently announced proposals that could result in a near 17% hike in the cost of the London Congestion Charge.
Its proposal, made in January, followed a Transport Select Committee hearing just days before at which representatives of the logistics sector expressed serious concerns about the effects on congestion and journey reliability of a pick-up in the UK economy.
