Congestion Pricing

London Finds “No Adverse Impact” Outside Charging Zone

With many New York City elected officials expressing concern that Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing study will create numerous problems in the neighborhoods just outside the charging zone, now is a good time to take a look at the extensive "Boundary Impacts Study" undertaken by Transport for London in its Fourth Annual Monitoring Report

By Aaron Naparstek

12:35 PM EDT on June 4, 2007

With many New York City elected officials expressing concern that Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing study will create numerous problems in the neighborhoods just outside the charging zone, now is a good time to take a look at the extensive “Boundary Impacts Study” undertaken by Transport for London in its Fourth Annual Monitoring Report

The London study found no evidence of “boundary-related problems” due to congestion charging. Rather, the neighborhoods just outside of London’s charging zone experienced small reductions in traffic, improvements in air quality, reductions in traffic accidents, and a steady growth in sales for the many small businesses in the study area. The study concludes, “there continues to be no evidence of adverse traffic impacts on roads surrounding the charging zone.”

You can download a summary of TfL’s Fourth Annual Monitoring report here or download the full report and turn to page 126 for details on the Boundary Impacts case study. Here are the study’s conclusions:

Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek's journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. He was also one of the original cast members of the "War on Cars" podcast. You can find more of his work on his website.