Cleaning up London’s toxic air

Congratulations Talk London Team.
Your last post just confirms that you do not listen to what people on this forum are saying.
You can tell us as many times as you like what TFL supposedly did to advertise the consultations but this doesn't mean it was a success. The facts of the matter are that only 15,000, sorry 'over' 15,000 so I take that as 15,001, responses were received out of a population of how many Londoners?
As mentioned by many users, the methods for this so called advertising is not getting enough publicity as no-one I've spoken to at work and outside were aware of the T-Charge until it was announced it was coming into force. I've heard the TFL radio announcements and seen the TFL bus stop adverts on how TFL are making life for Londoners a misery...although apparently it's supposedly making it better. Maybe TFL should think about more appropriate means to publicise consultations on things that will affect all Londoners because 4:00am on Cowboy Radio or a half page spread in the Beano Gazette (apologies to all the Beano lovers) isn't prime radio time or main stream press. The Standard is a paper picked up by commuters who probably don't get a chance to read it due space restriction from overcrowding on public transport. As for mail shots, I as many others who are registered with TFL, have not received any emails or post about the consultations.
If TFL were a manufacturer or retailer of goods, I'm sure that by now, they would have appeared on Watchdog and have Trading Standards breathing down their necks. If TFL are doing such a wonderful job with all their implementations, provide evidence of which ones are a success and please do not say the cycle super highways as these are a success in peak hours but empty the rest of the day just like 24/7 bus lanes.
If TFL have the money to spend on (expensive) advertising on radio and press, put the money to better use and post details to all London residents. It's quite easy to do as we are all on the electoral registers.
If you want to tackle pollution in a fair and sensible way, start dealing with all the buses, taxis and minicabs that clog up the streets of London. Go to any main rail station in central London and see how many taxis are sitting in a queue with their engines running waiting for their next fare. Try using a bus and see if you can get from A to B without regulating with their engines running or blocking a box junction because a taxi or minicab is stopped picking up or dropping off a passenger in the most stupid of places. Once you've done this, come back to us for a fair consultation.

You can talk until the cows come home about technical solutions to charge people to enter London in their car. The truth is Khan is not interested in fairness or about reducing emissions. His aim is to raise revenue to finance his grand spending plans. If diesels are the problem,which i doubt , then announce a ban to start in five years time. This gives everyone the opportunity to plan ahead. Remember Khan is a labour politician and like Ken Livingstone hits the very people he claims to represent. We`ve been here before.....

I agree with Steve1956 in that Khan, TFL and the local authorities need to take this back to the drawing board. I live smack bang in the middle of the congestion zone and all I can say is that I've noticed a massive increase in stop/start slow moving (usually stationary) traffic since all the 'local traffic improvements' have been implemented.

Here are just some of the examples around Holborn/Bloomsbury:

What used to be two way roads have been converted to one way (Tavistock Sq.) forcing traffic to bottleneck and find alternative routes which all aim towards the Euston Road, one of the most polluted roads already.

24/7 Bus lanes which are being used as bus stands forcing commuting buses into the only available lanes for cars, vans, motorbikes and cyclists to use causing more traffic.

Bus lane filter systems controlled by traffic lights (Theobalds Road/Proctor Street junction) for all other motor vehicles except black cabs. These lights only allow only 3-4 vehicles through whilst the bus lane is usually empty and allows free run of the junction to black cabs. Given there is another set of lights just after this filter system (20 yards), and given the number of black cabs in central London, this area soon fills and blocks all other vehicles from crossing and causes tailbacks.

Basically, the cause of most pollution/traffic comes from everything that has been supported by those who now say there is a problem. Buses, black cabs, probably the most polluting when you look at Oxford Street, which they say is one of the most polluted streets and most of it is closed to private vehicles, are exempt from paying the congestion charge. The vast increase in the number of minicabs add to traffic problems and are also exempt from paying the congestion charge are all licensed by TFL.

If they really want to do something to tackle pollution, they should:
1. limit the number of black cabs being licensed until the new "environmentally friendly" taxis are available.
2. Restrict the number of minicabs being licensed to operate in central London.
3. Work with bus companies to establish how many buses are actually required on a route rather than just allow Aviva and the likes to dictate and put x number of buses on a route where buses are usually less than half capacity due to there being so many and despite knowing there is no room for all these buses at the route terminus. This also results in buses 'regulating' in bus lanes and again, forcing other buses into a single generic lane.
4. Revisit all the 'traffic improvement' schemes implemented and see how they have failed to help clean the air and calm the traffic. When I say revisit, I mean actually get out there and have a look for themselves rather than listen to the teams who came up with the plans. After all, they are not going to say, 'oh, I think we got it wrong and just blown away millions'.
5. Set a maximum number of ULEZ free journeys a resident can drive within the zone in a week/month. Once exceeded, we pay. I can assure you that none of my neighbours plan to drive in peak traffic hours if they can avoid it.

Just to give a bit of background before anyone gets any ideas about me being anti everything, yes, I live in central London but I'm not wealthy. I drive but only weekends when I need to (elderly and disabled family members). I cycle, maybe not as much as I should, as I use public transport for my daily commute to/from work where, on a daily basis, I find myself on a bus regulating causing traffic all around me. I own a 'classic car', as recognised by insurance companies, but not under the ULEZ proposal as it's not 40+ years old.

So from my rant, I guess you can all work out that I don't support the ULEZ under it's current proposals for the congestion zone and I certainly do not support the extension of the ULEZ to the north/south circulars.

Mayor Khan needs to take this idea back to the drawing board....or the litter bin ! I agree with it operating in the central congestion charging zone, but to extend it to the north and south circular boundary is totally unfair on ordinary people who can only afford to run an older vehicle. All vehicles pollute and the greatest source of the vehicle pollution in London comes from thousands of newer vehicles which are in the majority. There are many more poisonous toxins in petrol fumes than diesel. Its the sheer number of vehicles operating in London which is the cause of the problem..as in every major city in the world. This problem will never be solved unless the total number of vehicles is cut .and everyone should take the hit equally rich and poor .Making the polluter pay suggests its ok to pollute if you pay for it. A large engine new car can pollute much more than a small engined old car.

Have just read through a number of these comments - I know we need to cut pollution, and I always travel by public transport in central London, on my Freedom pass.
However, I use my car locally because I cannot carry heavy shopping bags due to severe arthritis, and also take my 90 year old mother, plus other elderly relatives out and about.
I have children living over 100 miles away, and need the car to get to see them and my grand children (rail travel is prohibitively expensive and they would still need to collect me from the nearest station, as there is no bus service)
I don't want to move out of London, having lived here all my life (and can trace my family here back to the 1700s - we don't move around much!) but this is what I will be forced to do if the area is pushed back to the Nth Circ. I can't afford a new car on my pension.
I don't know what the answer is - but perhaps it's not to build more homes in London? They have built houses on every patch of land around here - and every person moving in brings a car with them it seems. The people born and bred here - be they black, white or any ethnic backgrounds, certainly can't afford them - so they're all for people moving in to London -. Would they be better living elsewhere and commuting in by train?
That may be one of the solutions?