Charging time: owners of electric cars like this Nice Mega City will now have to pay to park in the City of London
Posted on 06/24/2008 10:07:36 AM PDT by Stoat
A pioneering scheme that rewards owners of electric vehicles with free parking is being scrapped - because it works too well.
Since 2001, the City of London has issued free roadside parking passes to nearly 500 drivers of the zero-emission cars in a bid to encourage other people to buy one. It has also handed out 539 permits for free parking in its car parks.
But both schemes are being axed or scaled down, because commuters are adding to congestion by using the cars instead of walking, cycling or travelling by public transport.
The car park scheme will be scrapped from the end of this year, forcing owners of electric cars already registered with it to pay £2,000 for an annual permit next year. This will increase to £4,000 in 2010 and to £6,396 - the same as everyone else pays - in 2011.
Owners of electric cars registering for the first time will not get any discount.
Similarly, only those who currently hold free on-street parking permits for electric cars will continue to enjoy this privilege. Newcomers will have to pay the standard charge of £4 an hour at meters.
Today the Nice car company, which has sold 300 Mega City electric vehicles - mostly to Londoners - said that while other councils were launching initiatives to boost sales of electric vehicles the City had "gone into reverse".
Co-founder Julian Wilford said: "The reasons are plain daft. The corporation says free parking encourages people to use electric cars. Surely that's the point. It has nothing to do with improving the environment and everything to do with financial gain."
In a letter to Nice, Paul Symons, the City's assistant traffic manager, said: "These vehicles are now a common sight in the City. The corporation is, however, concerned the free parking has encouraged car use instead of the use of public transport, walking and cycling and does not consider this to be desirable in the highly congested traffic conditions in the City."
Harrow, Islington and Sutton offer free parking for electric vehicles. Kingston, Sutton and Wandsworth offer free recharging at electric points and Sutton also offers free parking in council car parks. Westminster has nearly 60 charging points and offers free parking in payanddisplay bays and a 98 per cent discount at its car parks.
Today's value in American dollars:
Live rates at 2008.06.24 17:03:49 UTC
6,396.00 GBP
=
12,603.63 USD
United Kingdom Pounds
United States Dollars
1 GBP = 1.97055 USD
1 USD = 0.507473 GBP
Don’t they acutally charge you a huge fee just to drive in the core area of London on a daily basis? Were in the hell to they get the money to pay for all this?
Will an F350 SuperDuty fit in that spot? No? Dang, I guess I will have to keep on paying what I pay.....ZERO.
When will liberals learn that their feel-goody little save-the-earth kneejerk policies DO NOT WORK.
I believe some of their wages are substantially higher than ours are.
$12,000 USD to park a golf cart?
I guess thats OK concidering they’re so enlightened and all.
Indeed they do, ostensibly in an effort to alleviate congestion.
London Mayor To Increase Traffic Congestion Fees - February 14, 2007 - The New York Sun
"We think this will be a sufficient deterrent to make people shift into less-polluting cars," the mayor said yesterday at his weekly news conference.
Too bad for the hardworking folks who did indeed shift into less-polluting cars....they not only got rid of what was probably a perfectly good automobile in favor of a tiny electric, but now they're being told: "HA! Fooled you, sucker!"
Were in the hell to they get the money to pay for all this?
Many simply don't.
Several Brits I'm acquainted with who had nice jobs in London have relocated to other jobs in different cities because London has become so impossibly expensive.
When they are no longer elected to public office.
This ability of the British - and Europeans in general - to placidly accept the most outrageous demands and restrictions placed on them by their government just never fails to amaze me. Where is the British Howard Jarvis or Ronald Reagan?
“6,396.00 GBP = 12,603.63 USD”
Hmmmm, ok, let’s see, there are, what, around 270 working days in a year? That works out to $46.68 dollars per day for a comuter to park and $34.53 per day for someone living there 365.
Ouch!
The cancer of Socialism destroys the human spirit.
Where is the British Howard Jarvis or Ronald Reagan?
London's new Mayor has been showing some promise:
Ken's partner axed as Boris Johnson purges City Hall 'wimmin'(London Mayor Update)
but this 'bait and switch' parking scam will cause him to fall in my estimation if he stands by and does nothing to stop it..
Ha. Ha. Ha.
FMCDH(BITS)
“$12,000 USD to park a golf cart?
I guess thats OK concidering they’re so enlightened and all.”
Libs consider themselves so compassionate, but think of all the hungry people that money could feed...seriously. I realize we are the only country expected to help others...
Median full-time weekly earnings in London were £581, significantly higher than in other regions, where they ranged from £402 in Northern Ireland to £481 in the South East.
That calculates to around £30,000/yr.
So, they're paying 20%+ of their income for parking!
It’s a relative thing. Our tax burden is something like 56%
The fact is ordinary people like myself are finding life hard going. I pay £575 rent alone....Local tax, energy, petrol (which is sky high) etc etc.....trying to run a family.
Not that I want sympathy. I’ll do whatever I need to do. But Britain has gone to the dogs in too many ways...
Yes it is, and I don’t think anyone’s wages have increased at the same rate as the cost of necessities like fuel, food, medical etc.
You are right, it’s one (only one) of the reasons Brown is so disliked. There will be serious problems over here later this year now that UNISON members have agreed to strike. A BIG union (NHS). And others will follow. There is already talk of a 3 day week.
Watch this space....
/sarcasm
This is no different than the Germans charging moving violation fees based on your income. Socialism punishes achievement...and it comes in many forms.
Me? I would pay more to be OUT of the city. I would pay more to live a simple rural lifestyle, which, through its own mechanics, actually costs me less.
What the government “giveth,” the government can “taketh away.”
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