London Assembly urges Mayor to tackle traffic congestion

'The future of road congestion in London' calls for short and long term congestion plans to be set out

A London Assembly report has suggested that new and varied approaches will be required to tackle road traffic congestion in London.

‘The future of road congestion in London’, calls on the Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Transport for London (TfL) to set out how they will manage congestion in the short and longer-term.

It also urges the Mayor to set out his stall on other ways of managing congestion like car clubs or changing freight delivery practices, and identify at what point he would look at introducing more controversial approaches like road user charging.

Over ten million journeys are made by private motor vehicle in London each day, nearly 7,000 buses cover around 700 routes, and almost 90 per cent of London’s freight is transported by road.

Traffic volumes are predicted to continue to grow over the next 20 years and even if the Mayor’s current plans to manage future congestion all go ahead, there could still be up to a 14 per cent increase in traffic delay.

 The report calls for updated projections of future congestion and for the Mayor to set out more detailed approaches he will use to tackle it.

A majority of Transport Committee Members want the Mayor to reinstate a road user hierarchy that makes it clear transport planners should give sustainable modes like walking, cycling, and public transport and economically important traffic such as freight more priority than private cars.

The report urges TfL to investigate the potential consequences of its proposed lane rental scheme including the extent to which utility companies could pass on the cost to customers, to tackle roadworks more effectively.

The report also asks TfL to establish detailed benchmarks for measuring congestion, including journey time reliability.

Deputy Chair of the Transport Committee, Val Shawcross AM, said: "As well as being an endless source of frustration, road congestion costs London billions of pounds and generates pollution that is linked to thousands of deaths each year."

Further information:
Greater London Authority