Sadiq Khan proposes journey charge for motorists in London
Motorists across the whole of London could be charged for every journey from 2024 under plans being drawn up to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality.
The mayor, Sadiq Khan, said London should be a global leader in introducing smart road pricing, as a report found car journeys in the capital needed to be cut by more than a quarter to meet net zero emissions targets by 2030.
Khan said air pollution and the climate emergency were “an issue of social justice across the globe – and in London as well, it’s the poorest Londoners, the least likely to own a car, who suffer the consequences”.
He has asked Transport for London (TfL) to explore road pricing that would charge by distance travelled, time and location. However, with technology to operate a scheme unlikely to be ready soon, he has told TfL to consider other options to make drivers pay for polluting before the end of his second term in office in May 2024.
Possible options include a daily clean air charge for all car journeys throughout Greater London, or applying the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) £12.50 daily charge to most petrol and diesel cars rather than just older models.
TfL will also consider expanding the Ulez as it currently operates throughout all boroughs and introducing a boundary charge to drive into Greater London. Fully electric and other zero-emission cars would be exempt under all options.
Khan said he would like to see both the London congestion charge – introduced in 2003 – and the Ulez replaced with road pricing before the end of the decade: “Both schemes are quite blunt and technology has moved on. I want London to be a global leader.”
The mayor said he wanted to start “an earnest conversation with Londoners” about ways to reduce car use, ease
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