C-charge impact praised

As many as 70,000 vehicle journeys a day to central London no longer occur because of the congestion charge, figures reveal today.

This means the number of vehicles entering the zone is down by more than a third since the £5-a-day levy was introduced in February last year.

However, motorists are not turning to the Tube. The same report shows that the number of passengers using the Underground fell by 40,000 last year.

Transport for London, which today published definitive figures on the first 12 months of the scheme, insists the economic impact on business remains "small".

Environment groups are hailing the charge for cutting air pollution caused by cars and lorries.

According to the TfL report, of the "65,000 to 70,000 car trips that are no longer made to the zone" during the 7am to 6.30pm charging hours, up to 60 per cent of commuters have switched to public transport.

Some 20 to 30 per cent now go around the zone, and 15 to 25 per cent have made other changes such as switching the time of their journey. TfL claims there is "no evidence" of increases in traffic outside the eight-square-mile zone's boundaries.

Payment of the charge remains consistent at 110,000 transactions a day, while several hundred vehicles belonging to serial charge-dodgers have been impounded, and bailiffs are chasing up unpaid £80 fines.

Addressing the controversial issue of the charge's impact on traders, many of whom believe it has scared off customers, the report says the London economy "has been subject to a wide range of influences during 2003".

It adds: "Collectively, these have had a much greater impact on the central London economy than congestion charging. They have also made the task of identifying and quantifying congestion-charging related impacts more difficult."