Key information
Request reference number: MGLA271021-6236
Date of response:
Summary of request
Your request
1. Since the original ULEZ scheme coming in to place in 2019 what have been the air pollution readings (by months compared to the year before ULEZ was introduced)?
2. How much has London Transport made from ULEZ charges (including fines to drivers)?
3. Why is ULEZ charged at £12.50 and not £1? What pricing strategies were used to come to the final cost of £12.50?
4. With the ULEZ charges and fines where is this money distributed?
5. What other pilot schemes were introduced before moving ahead with ULEZ?
6. What information was used to support the expansion of ULEZ (especially after lockdown was eased)?
7. With the £2000 grant for scrapping your old car, what type of ULEZ car can people buy? For example, Tesla, another expensive electric car.
8. Which organisation does the Mayor’s Office use to run its own private audit into the air pollution results and what have their finding been?
Our response
Please note that the GLA does not hold the information to be able to respond to your questions in full. Transport for London (TfL) is the Mayor's transport authority and is responsible for implementing the Mayor's Transport Strategy and for the day-to-day operational running of transport services. You may wish to send a further request to TfL at [email protected].
Please see our responses to each question in turn below.
1. Continuous monitoring of air pollution in London is undertaken mostly by the London Boroughs and the Corporation of London.
This is supplemented by some monitoring stations operated by the Government, private companies (such as London’s airports) and others.
The data for the majority of monitoring stations is published online.
The GLA has an online map that has links through to published data from all continuous monitors in London.
2. TfL publishes details of income from all road user charging schemes in its Annual Report and Statement of Accounts.
3. This information was published in the TfL consultation documents.
4. Income received from the ULEZ is reinvested by TfL into improving the transport network, including its roads, cycleways, buses and the Tube and making London’s air cleaner.
5. Previous (and current) schemes include the Toxicity Charge, Central London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) and the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) and Congestion Charge:
GLA - Mayor's new £10 'T-Charge' starts today
6. This information was published in the TfL consultation documents.
7. There are no restrictions on what people do with the money from the scrappage scheme. This is in the published information and Terms & Conditions on the TfL website.
8. As noted above, monitoring is done by the Boroughs and others. It is up to the operator of the monitoring station to set up their own processes for Quality Control and Quality Assurance of the data.
Separately to this monitoring, the air quality impact of the central London ULEZ (before the pandemic) was set out in a number of reports which were peer reviewed by Dr Gary Fuller, now of Imperial College London. Further detail on the method is set out in the report appendices. These reports are available below:
Additionally, in October 2020 the GLA published the Air Quality in London 2016 to 2020 report. This used data from London’s air quality monitoring network and modelling from King’s College London to assess the impact of the Mayor’s wider air quality policies.
Further reports commissioned and published by the GLA on London’s air quality and the impact of the Mayor’s policies are available here.
If you have any further questions relating to this matter, please contact us, quoting reference MGLA271021-6236.