Road Pricing At The Crossroads

Transport issues have been on the minds and lips of many people this year. There has been plenty of commentary about the future of transport from the Eddington Report, to the extension of the Congestion Charging Zone in London, the announcement of 1,000 extra train carriages on hard-pushed commuter routes and discussion about the future of air transport leading to high profile environmental protests at Heathrow. One policy issue has tended to stand out though. Road pricing, road user charging, congestion charging, call it what you will, the idea of charging motorists to use certain stretches of roads is a controversial one. Road pricing is likely to exercise the minds of many politicians, local authorities and pressure groups across Britain for years to come. Inevitably, critics point to the 1.8 million signatories of a Downing Street petition earlier this year as proof positive that there is no public appetite for such a policy. Here in London, opposition to the Western Extension of the Congestion Charging Zone earlier this year was as vocal as it was well mobilised and in 2005 there was a large no vote in the Edinburgh referendum about introducing a congestion charging scheme (74% voted against on a 62% turnout). Opponents are cleverly calling the policy the "Toll Tax", evoking memories of the very unpopular and short-lived Poll Tax. All this would seemingly suggest a policy fraught with pitfalls and not one for the faint-hearted or risk-averse politician. Opinion poll evidence certainly suggests that proponents have their work cut out but this has not stopped the Greater Manchester authorities and several other cities/areas seeking and securing Government funding to advance plans for road pricing schemes. Moreover, new Ipsos evidence - including recent public opinion polling as well as insights derived from our annual study of transport journalists - suggests a much more complex picture than would appear at first sight. Our data shows that road pricing can be made acceptable to the public. This paper sets out what we already know about public attitudes towards road pricing schemes placed in the context of attitudes towards public and private transport. We go on to present our new survey data (set out in full in Appendix 1) and show how it indicates that clear communication of the benefits of road pricing and the revenues it raises can go a long way to winning support for a policy which is initially greeted with much disapproval.

• Poll data and tables: Support For Road Pricing If Revenues Used For Public Transport