Autocar - First for car news and reviews

The Mayor of London’s office has just confirmed changes to the city’s congestion charge that will sting owners of cars emitting more than 225g/km of carbon dioxide to the tune of £25-a-day.
The new congestion charge will come into force on October 27 2008. It is described by the London authority as “the world’s most ambitious scheme to reduce the contribution of urban traffic to greenhouse gasses”, and “a key part of the Mayor’s Climate Change Action Plan which aims to reduce London’s CO2 emi...Read the full article

And there i was thinking that the extra revenue generated from the extra fuel used / bought was paying extra to Gordon / Alistair already.

 Hear Hear! JJBoxter, Agree with every word.

Ban cows.

scummyplum:

Ban cows.

 

You can't do that - they just taste so good and make for really nice car seat covers
 

JJBoxster:

Public transport is a sign of poverty in a country, the car a sign of affluence and progress.

 

What's your source for this observation?

The countries that have the reputation for having great public transport systems tend to be very affluent and have a higher standard of living than the UK - Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands etc. 

JJBoxster:

And public transport is subsidised massivey by the wealth and indeed efficiency of the motorist in order to run. How preverse! 

 

Yes that's right and smokers pay for the entire NHS in tobacco taxes too! LOL

Talk about believing absurdities - Voltaire would probably give you a slap if he was alive and could get a fast enough car to catch you on your beloved Autobahns! LOL

I need to go now - my bus is due and Mr Livingstone hates it when I'm late in... 

DocB - Isn't it obvious? People can't afford personal transport in poorer nations so you may have noticed trains in India full to overflowing (inc. the roofs). The Tata Nano is helping improve that and you will notice people there (everywhere) jump at the chance of changing from public transport to private transportsoon as they can choose. Similarly communism was marked by use of public transport and 10yr waiting lists for cars.

Switzerland and Germany (don't know about Denmark) may have highly modern efficient trains but like the UK they're subsidised to the tune of billions like the UK to keep them running. Buses too.

Nobody wants to use public transport. It's expensive, inflexible, tatty. You only use it if you can't afford a car. You can see the pattern in all developing countries once wealth spreads through the population. At the moment we all holiday on mass-cattle class jumbos. One day we'll all have private Lear Jets. This is progress DocB.

 

JJBoxster:

DocB - Isn't it obvious? People can't afford personal transport in poorer nations so you may have noticed trains in India full to overflowing (inc. the roofs). The Tata Nano is helping improve that and you will notice people there (everywhere) jump at the chance of changing from public transport to private transportsoon as they can choose. Similarly communism was marked by use of public transport and 10yr waiting lists for cars.

Switzerland and Germany (don't know about Denmark) may have highly modern efficient trains but like the UK they're subsidised to the tune of billions like the UK to keep them running. Buses too.

Nobody wants to use public transport. It's expensive, inflexible, tatty. You only use it if you can't afford a car. You can see the pattern in all developing countries once wealth spreads through the population. At the moment we all holiday on mass-cattle class jumbos. One day we'll all have private Lear Jets. This is progress DocB.

 

Utterly bemused - this is someone who says the first thing that comes into his head. It's fantastic.

Funniest thing I've read in ages.

I'll put my order in now for a Lear Jet.

'Urban areas are hot spots that drive environmental change at multiple scales. Material demands of production and human consumption alter land use and cover, biodiversity, and hydrosystems locally to regionally, and urban waste discharge affects local to global biogeochemical cycles and climate.' Published in Science, the world renowned scientific journal this last week.

JJB, there is a huge weight of scientific evidence in support of the climate change argument and urban centres such as London make a significant contribution to that. Even moving away from the climate change argument London is full. I visited it last week and observed as much. For this reason I think some form of system to remove people from their cars and into another form of transport is required. I think the £25 congestion charge on high fuel consumption cars is typical of Kens left leaning attitude and I dont agree with  it but might support charging £25 for all cars. However I do like the idea that gas guzzlers will go down in price when all those daft enough to live in London have to sell them! I must also admit that as my visits to London are rare and always reluctant I genuinely could not care less.

 

McMikey - Can I say with respect your 'evidence' from the Science publication is a crystal clear example of the inane, meaningless crap from climate scaremongers. That entire sentance is utterly meaningless garbage both in its component and in its entirety. It has no facts, no meaning and is total dribble designed to confuse and bamboozle and is utterly dishonest in its intent (most 'spinners' take the public for fools) and is very offensive. Who authored this crud?

Firstly the fact is climate models based on CO2 are flawed. You cannot actually build a climate model as it would be too complex for even todays super-computers and it is folly to pretend otherwise. The UK weather forecasters have new Cray super-computers and they can't predict the weather for the UK tomorrow with any accuracy let alone in 20yrs!

Secondly as I've posted vehicle omissions represent less than 1% of climate CO2. It's a fact. And it is also a fact taking all the vehicles off the road tomorrow would make no difference to CO2 and have no effect on climate whatsoever. CO2 tax on vehicle omissions is a fraud.

Finally the only known effect on climate change (with the exceptions of volcanic eruptions and asteroid impacts) is the sun. Earth is 'at the mercy' of the suns fusion reactions. And its warming/cooling effects have been happening for centuries. During the Roman occupation the UK was warm enough to grow and harvest wines whilst later centuries London regulalrly endured freezing solid winters.

"Just because an acorn falls on your head, doesn't mean the Oak tree will follow". Chinese proverb.

That sums up the scaremongers what they're claiming about global warming. The climate debate has no science behind it...just scientists wanting funding!   

 

And where does this leave airplanes oh yes, They won't drive into london today they will catch a plane to Europe for same price as the congestion charge and "Oh no I'm gonna have to spend £25 of my billions and millions a day", The rich will be mortified!They're pooing there pants already!!!! All that happens is that more 'green cars' owned by poorer people go into London and Co2 increases and more congestion happens!

All while the fat cats GLA steal from the drivers!!.

 Never know maybe the rich will get a band A or B car for london

A pointless policy, END OF STORY!!!