Congestion Charges Update

I wrote earlier about the congestion charges introduced in the centre of Stockholm at the beginning of the year. I am very pleaset to tell you that so far they have been a huge success! Such a success that the political debate has if not died out but almost disappeared. The parties that were against charges (or "tax" as they call it) are still against (though they were the ones that had launched the idea in the first place, as I mentioned in my previous posting), but they are not as vocal about it in the fear of (I think) alienating voters.

The results so far:

• Substantial decrease in congestion on the streets of Stockholm - halving of travel times in rush hour and buses having to hold for a minute at bus stops not to get ahead of their timetable
• 25 % decrease in traffic on weekdays
• No significant increase in traffic on ringroads (e.g. Essingeleden)
• 40,000 more people commuting by public transportation, without any major problems for SL
• Well-functioning technical and administrative system and not total chaos as critics feared

Reservations exist of course. Traffic always increase gradually from a winter low to a peak in May-June so the congestion charges will have to be continuously evaluated before a final assessment of the results can be made. We also have to wait for an evaluation of the environmental effects, e.g. emissions and noise.

But so far so good! I really hope the continuous success of the trial period leads to Stockholmers voting for a permanent (or as long as congestion and the environment so require) introduction of congestion charges!