The Conference was chaired on the first day by Keith Mortimer of Wyeval Consulting and Chairman of the ITS (UK) RUC Interest Group, who reviewed current developments and trends. The UK Cabinet Office has assessed the 'harms' of urban transport to be costing the UK £40 billion annually in addition to the £16 billion of congestion costs, and both are set to increase. But there was disagreement on how this should be tackled. The Climate Change Committee and the Director of the RAC Foundation recommended road pricing, whilst the Secretary of State for Transport plans to 'end the war on the motorist', saying that 'Fuel duty is an effective Pay As You Go system', and the Mayor of London has scrapped the western extension to the congestion charge zone. A Lorry Road User Charge is planned for 2014 - though its objective is not better traffic management but 'to ensure a fairer arrangement for UK hauliers' viv-a-vis foreign hauliers who do not pay UK road tax or fuel duty.
展开▼
