The Mayor of Bristol, George Ferguson has been interviewed by The Bristol Post and has refused to rule out the potential introduction of a Congestion Charge, although there are no actual plans so far. The idea would be to use any charge to encourage more people onto local buses rather than making a decision to drive:
“It’s not something that I’ve got into yet but I wouldn’t rule it out,” he said. “I would base a decision on whether or not it was practical. It’s not on the immediate horizon but I don’t rule anything out that makes this city work better, as well as healthier and safer.”
The article also goes on to state that the scheme would have to be more flexible than the London approach, perhaps charging different rates based on times and locations. A road charging scheme in Singapore currently works in this way. UK schemes outside of London however typically meet a lot of opposition, Manchester voters rejected a scheme back in 2008 for example.
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