The London congestion charge is a fee charged on most cars and motor vehicles being driven within the Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ) in Central London between 7:00 am and 6:00 pm Monday to Friday, and between 12:00 noon and 6:00 pm Saturday and Sunday.
Road pricing are direct charges levied for the use of roads, including road tolls, distance or time-based fees, congestion charges and charges designed to discourage the use of certain classes of vehicle, fuel sources or more polluting vehicles. These charges may be used primarily for revenue generation, usually for road infrastructure financing, or as a transportation demand management tool to reduce peak hour travel and the associated traffic congestion or other social and environmental negative externalities associated with road travel such as air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, visual intrusion, noise pollution and road traffic collisions.
Congestion pricing or congestion charges is a system of surcharging users of public goods that are subject to congestion through excess demand, such as through higher peak charges for use of bus services, electricity, metros, railways, telephones, and road pricing to reduce traffic congestion; airlines and shipping companies may be charged higher fees for slots at airports and through canals at busy times. Advocates claim this pricing strategy regulates demand, making it possible to manage congestion without increasing supply.
Emission standards are the legal requirements governing air pollutants released into the atmosphere. Emission standards set quantitative limits on the permissible amount of specific air pollutants that may be released from specific sources over specific timeframes. They are generally designed to achieve air quality standards and to protect human life. Different regions and countries have different standards for vehicle emissions.
A so-called zero-emission vehicle, or ZEV, is a vehicle that does not emit exhaust gas or other pollutants from the onboard source of power but still emits pollutants during its construction phase, production of energy carrier etc. Therefore, the term "zero-emission" has been described as abusive or greenwashing.
The European emission standards are vehicle emission standards for pollution from the use of new land surface vehicles sold in the European Union and European Economic Area member states and the United Kingdom, and ships in EU waters. The standards are defined in a series of European Union directives staging the progressive introduction of increasingly stringent standards.
A low-emission zone (LEZ) is a defined area where access by some polluting vehicles is restricted or deterred with the aim of improving air quality. This may favour vehicles such as bicycles, micromobility vehicles, (certain) alternative fuel vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and zero-emission vehicles such as all-electric vehicles.
Bristol is a city in south west England, near the Bristol Channel coast, approximately 106 miles (170 km) west of London. Several factors have influenced the development of its transport network. It is a major centre of employment, retail, culture and higher education, has many historic areas, and has a history of maritime industry. The city has a population of 450,000, with a metropolitan area of 650,000, and lies at the centre of the former County of Avon, which includes many dormitory towns, and has a population of one million.
London has an extensive and developed transport network which includes both public and private services. Journeys made by public transport systems account for 37% of London's journeys while private services accounted for 36% of journeys, walking 24% and cycling 2%,according to numbers from 2017. London's public transport network serves as the central hub for the United Kingdom in rail, air and road transport.
The transport infrastructure of Greater Manchester is built up of numerous transport modes and forms an integral part of the structure of Greater Manchester and North West England – the most populated region outside of South East England which had approximately 301 million annual passenger journeys using either buses, planes, trains or trams in 2014. Its position as a national city of commerce, education and cultural importance means the city has one of the largest and most thorough transport infrastructures which is heavily relied upon by its 2.8 million inhabitants in the Greater Manchester conurbation and further afield in the North West region. Public transport comes under the jurisdiction of Transport for Greater Manchester.
The Greater Manchester congestion charge was part of a bid to the Government's Transport Innovation Fund for a £3-billion package of transport funding and the introduction of a road congestion charge for Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England. In 2008, two cordons were proposed—the outer encircling the main urban core of the Greater Manchester Urban Area and the inner covered Manchester city centre. The Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund was rejected by a referendum on 12 December 2008.
The London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) is an area of London in which an emissions standard based charge is applied to non-compliant commercial vehicles. Its aim is to reduce the exhaust emissions of diesel-powered vehicles in London. This scheme should not be confused with the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), introduced in April 2019, which applies to all vehicles. Vehicles that do not conform to various emission standards are charged; the others may enter the controlled zone free of charge. The low emission zone started operating on 4 February 2008 with phased introduction of an increasingly stricter regime until 3 January 2012. The scheme is administered by the Transport for London executive agency within the Greater London Authority.
QuayLink was a bus service in Tyne and Wear, England, which connected Gateshead and Newcastle upon Tyne, and later North Tyneside, with the Quayside. Funded by the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive, the service was launched on 22 July 2005. Operated initially by Stagecoach North East, the service was transferred to Go North East in July 2010 – later being operated commercially from July 2015, following budget cuts.
Air pollution in the United Kingdom has long been considered a significant health issue, and it causes numerous other environmental problems such as damage to buildings, forests, and crops. Many areas, including major cities like London, are found to be significantly and regularly above legal and recommended pollution levels. Air pollution in the UK is a major cause of diseases such as asthma, lung disease, stroke, cancer, and heart disease, and is estimated to cause forty thousand premature deaths each year, which is about 8.3% of deaths, while costing around £40 billion each year.
There are 3,835 hybrid buses, 950 battery electric buses, and 20 hydrogen fuel cell buses operating in London, as of March 2023, out of a total bus fleet of 8,643 - this is around 56% of the bus fleet.
Road pricing in the United Kingdom used to be limited to conventional tolls in some bridges, tunnels and also for some major roads during the period of the Turnpike trusts. The term road pricing itself only came into common use however with publication of the Smeed Report in 1964 which considered how to implement congestion charging in urban areas as a transport demand management method to reduce traffic congestion.
The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is an area in London, England, where an emissions standard based charge is applied to non-compliant road vehicles. Plans were announced by London Mayor Boris Johnson in March 2015 for the zone to come into operation in September 2020. Sadiq Khan, the subsequent mayor, introduced the zone early on 8 April 2019. The zone initially covered Central London, the same area as the existing London congestion charge and raised £224 million in 2022.
Birmingham Clean Air Zone is an area of central Birmingham, England where traffic is restricted to reduce air pollution. It became the third UK Clean Air Zone, after London and Bath, when it launched on 1 June 2021. A study of the zone’s effectiveness, published in 2023, found mixed results, with "modest, but significant reductions" in nitrogen dioxide but "no detectable impact in the concentrations of fine particles... the air pollutant with greatest health effects".
Bradford Clean Air Zone is a road traffic low-emission programme in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. Plans were advanced for many cities in England to have Clean Air Zones (CAZ), but of the ones put forward in Yorkshire, only Bradford's CAZ has been taken to an operational stage. The scheme commenced on 26 September 2022, and all vehicles, barring private cars and motorbikes, must be compliant with the scheme or face a charge for entering into the zone. The programme aims to help the district comply with legal limits for air quality.
Mums for Lungs is a nonprofit, grassroots environmental campaign group, based in the United Kingdom, which raises awareness of the health effects of air pollution, particularly on children.
