Cleaning up London’s toxic air

Here we are, 16 days since the consultation started and I still haven't been notified by TFL of the consultation which will affect me as I live smack bang in the middle of the congestion zone. They did however manage to notify me how much will be taken from my bank account through the auto-pay system.

COME ON TFL! MAKE ALL THOSE WHO WILL BE AFFECTED AWARE OF THESE CONSULTATIONS TO GIVE THEM A CHANCE TO MAKE THEMSELVES HEARD AND GET A TRUE PICTURE OF WHAT LONDONERS WANT.

FOUND THIS TODAY ....weridelondon.com a worthwhile cause who are being IGNORED BY TFL...

This is why we are campaigning to encourage more people onto all two wheeled transport, including motorcycles, scooter, mopeds and bicycles. This will keep London moving while at the same time reducing emissions for both the moving vehicles and reduce the stop/start traffic for cars and other vehicles and therefore reducing pollution from them also.

However, one statistic keeps coming up. "9,500 people die in London EACH YEAR due to air pollution". This is a terrible statistic if true. Is it true? Put simply: no.

There is no doubt that air quality contributes to respiratory deaths in London, particularly in higher risk demographics such as those that are already chronically ill and our increasingly aged pollution. A freedom of information request for 2015 data reveals the total number of deaths for ALL respiratory illnesses in the capital is nearly 3,000 less than the quoted 9,500!

Analysis by the Office Of National Statistics confirms that the total number of deaths for 2015 is 6,881. BUT, that total includes; smoking related Lung Cancer, Flu, and Pneumonia.

How many are directly related to air quality? Nobody knows.....

For more detailed information about facts and figures and the background to the concerns we need to have addressed, the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) have done a fair bit of work myth busting in this space. You can contact them by email at [email protected] or by phone on 019 2684 4060.

How can TFL bring an emission zone and a Ultra Low Emission Zone into Central London charge cars vans and Motorbikes for driving or riding in these zones then say they are not going to charge the biggest polluters TAXIS ? This is absurd yet TFL want to extend the zones to include SOUTH LONDON AND NORTH LONDON .....Simply crazy.How can TFL charge motorbikes £12.50 a day to ride in London when they should be encouraging car drivers to switch to motorbikes instead ? again CRAZY ....Are we really dealing with a mayor here who is looking at drivers and riders simply as CASH COWS to pay for cycling lanes which obviously hold up traffic in london.....these ideas need drastically overhauled and remember when it comes to the ELECTIONS FOLKS IN MAY-MR SADIQ KHAN IS LABOUR....Do you want Labour ? Have your real say then in the elections-I voted for this man but had I known what he was going to do to me and my family.....well...HUGE MISTAKE

UNREAL DAY ... Took me over an hour to get from Lewisham to Earls court in a car today... what I noticed was its all about TRAFFIC LIGHTS !! Waiting forever at every traffic lights for no reason...you,d think there was a smash somewhere it was NEVER like this before whats happening with traffic lights in London they are taking far too long with everyone at all junctions waiting and doing nothing , why always delays?. Got to the embankment and the cycle lanes both sides NO-ONE IN THEM !! What a waste a total waste, single lane most of the way for drivers cos of cycle lanes and I AM A CYCLIST !!! Disgusting waste no wonder theres pollution. All the cars waiting at traffic lights or moving at about 5 mph....TFL is to blame for pollution not drivers, not diesel get it sorted KHAN its disgraceful how you can cause this and all we hear on the radio on LBC is " I AM THE MAN WHO DID THIS, I AM THE MAN WHO DID THAT..." How about sorting out the traffic lights to get London moving so you can actually hold your head up and say "I AM THE MAN WHO GOT LONDON MOVING BY SORTING OUT THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS".... SO CARS CAN ACTUALLY MOVE ? Had a pint in my local when I got back -7 hours to oxford and back pollution never stopped traffic TFL did !! , used to take me 3 1/2 hrs....everyone in the pub is talking about these lights slowing us down in London how can we all be wrong? Yet cycle lanes are empty until home time ....does not make sense...got dash cam pics want them? Why are TFL not listening to people and acting upon the facts instead of targeting diesel drivers its simply not right and its very frustrating.

Lets be honest. The reason why pollution has become so lethal (as Sadiq Khan describes) is because it was labour who promoted the sales of diesel cars in the early 2000's.
NOW they should promote and encourage to switch from Diesel to more cleaner alternatives, when people next change their cars. Picking on and punishing the motorist who bought cars in good faith is hardly fair, which is so far what is happening. There are other factors causing pollution which should also be addressed. Firstly black cabs should not be exempt and should be compelled to change to electric or a cleaner form of fuel. Our fleet of buses should be operating on electric. Congestion also causes pollution, but Uber cars have increased four fold in the last few years. We have reduced lanes and created cycle lanes which have increased queues and congestion - like the introduction of east-west cycle highway. Road works should be kept to minimum.
I agree that old diesels are heavily polluting and bringing in a minimum emission standard of Euro 6 would help. However what about petrol cars? A minimum emission standard of a Euro 4 on a petrol car is over doing it and will mean that people will be scrapping perfectly good cars and be required to fund the purchase of a newer vehicle. If the ULEZ is extended that will mean that 80% - 90% of car owners will be scrapping and changing their cars. Sadiq should realise that according to the AA Euro 4 (January 2005) and the later Euro 5 (September 2009) concentrated on cleaning up emissions from diesel cars, especially reducing particulate matter(PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx). Hence there is barely any difference between Euro 3 and 4 in a petrol car. With him insisting on the minimum for a petrol car meeting Euro 4 requirements show that he is conveniently using the air quality issue as a means of raising revenue (or picking on the motorist). Sadiq should remember that Euro 3 standards were in place a long time before his party were promoting the purchase of diesel cars and the pollution level was not considered to be that bad then.

The plans mentioned in the Standard are now out, and it seems the announcement is about the bringing forward of the existing ULEZ plans for central London to 2019, on which there will be a consultation until June. The plans to extend to south and north circular have apparently now been put off to 2020 for heavy diesel vehicles (coaches/lorries etc.) and 2021 for cars and vans. There will be a further consultation on the expansion plans after the one on bringing forward the initial central zone.

More info here:
https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/mayor-plans-to-introdu…

This is welcome news to me as it looks like TfL and the Mayor are looking at realistic plans for the expansion of the ULEZ rather than rushing through an ill thought scheme to score political points. There is nothing about what the plans are for the expanded area in terms of charges but I really hope that there will be an option that is fairer than the flat rate only on some older vehicles currently proposed for the central zone. As I've said before (banged on about, some might say!!! ;-)) expansion of the ULEZ *could* both genuinely tackle air pollution and be seen as reasonable by most who have to pay the charges, but as it will cover such a huge number of Londoners it must be fair (including to those who only drive a few miles in older cars and cannot afford to replace them), it must target the right high-emitting groups, i.e. be proportional to mileage and cover all (other than ultra low emissions) vehicles not just some older ones, so high mileage drivers should have to pay more than low mileage drivers irrespective of the age of the car, and it must be done with the full consultation of all affected Londoners.

This should actually acknowledge that an old petrol is far less polluting than an old diesel. I really feel for independent traders who will be penalised, but for the sake of everyone's health, old diesel cars and vans that get regular use should be scrapped.
I do think that there should be exceptions, e.g. The elderly who use rarely use their car, or classic car enthusiasts etc

TFL commissioned a study about the traffic lights - and then tried to have it buried as they didnt like the results.

The road planners reported back to them that about 30 - 40% of the traffic lights in london should be removed to allow a better traffic flow in key areas.

In other areas they recommend that the traffic lights be replaced by mini roundabouts as they perform pretty much the same function but without the pointless stop to traffic flow when there is no other traffic flowing thru the green lights.

In some other areas that are heavily congested they suggested a combination of the 2 - traffic lights to operate most of the day but late evening to very early morning they should be switched off the mini roundabouts used.

TFL dont seem interested in maintaining a flow of traffic, they seem hell bent on slowing the traffic as much as they can - the result being far higher pollution.

Lets not forget that livingston also instructed the councils to remove the cut puts in the pavement for buses to move out of the way of traffic flow and moved stops to be opposite each other on those same roads so the traffic stuck behind bus couldn't overtake if a bus was at both stops - his words were "i'll make sure nothing moves faster than a bus so people have no reason to not be on a bus".

One of my work colleagues pointed out an article in today's Standard. Apparently the mayor will tomorrow announce he is bringing forward the implementation of the ULEZ to 2019 and its expansion to the north/south circulars. Am I the only one who has not seen any consultation? I certainly haven't seen it advertised or been notified by TFL. Maybe tomorrow will be the launch of the consultation despite it sounding like the decision has already been made.

I think it safe to say there are way too many cabs and buses blocking the arteries of londons roads-mainly Central London not south london - if there were less buses and cabs then the normal traffic could move easier, buses just pull out in front of people as the bus in front may still be loading or broken down forcing everyone to stop. If there were less of these then people would probably have to find other ways of getting around. Its not fair to just blame deisels or drivers all the time for londons pollution, TFL have to take a bit of blame there unfortunately. It was the Labour party to encouraged people all over the UK to buy deisels anyway and here you are now telling people different.I cycle a lot but I also drive a Deisel car and always have as it was a great deal at the time.Unfortunately what the government is proposing- a scrappage scheme wher drivers would get between £1k-£3.5k towards a new car would be totally unfiar and descrimanatory. What if (and possibly true for 3/4 of drivers) they dont have say £10k towards a new car ! will the government still force that person to give up his car and so have nothing while a man in essex gets away scot free? thats not right clearly as they both bought them with hard cash so its only right the government should give them hard cash back. In HONG KONG they are doing a deisel scrappage scheme and all deisel drivers are offered £9k (£9000.00) cash sterling to scrap their cars - now thats fair money in your hand NOT TOWARDS A NEW CAR !, did you know deisel drivers there dont pay tax on diesel ? So by offering UK drivers a paltry £1k for their car is morally wrong at least. Less buses and taxes in central london would be a start, cars and vans would move easier, get someone who knows about traffic systems as TFL,s clearly not working i notice more traffic queues now than before Sadiq Khan was employed, its not working and to just blame drivers and penalise them is just wrong. Do not extend the ULEZ it will make poorer people poorer they need these pre 2005 cars and bikes to get to work-you will force people out of work, that is obvious.Give people the right to vote on this , I was told about this ULEZ through word of mouth how come I never knew of its existence or plans to extend it ? If it affects londoners then all londoners need to be consulted.Something seems underhanded here that they dont know.You cannot pedestrianize london its just too big and transport is needed to get around even for delivery drivers,couriers (bikes and cars) some people commute into london daily.Motorcycles need full access to all bus lanes theyre being pushed out into the traffic by bicycle lanes although great at times they are a hindrance to be honest.£770 million for cycle lanes is way too much this money is wasted here invest it better but not on this please thats stupid ! Improve the road network instead.Everyone has to spread the word as most londoners dont know about TFL.s efforts to implement this, I for one did not get a leaflet through my door, how many residents live in London over 8 million and yet this is being done on the backs of only 10,000 people who went for it using this website whilst we the rest of london never knew about it STOP TFL and SADIQ KHAN now and spread the word of their intentions !! I keep seeing NOX blamed for this pollution too but also PM25 both different chemicals TFL which is directly to blame for deaths in London please ? Has no one noticed that any topic relating to the ULEZ -ULTRA LOW EMISSION ZONE Is NOT on the main TALK LONDON HOME PAGE, are TFL deliberately trying to stop people having there say by any chance? Home page is all about recycle, cleaner london etc....