The Transport Committee has released its verdict on the issue of road pricing in a report released today (04/02/22) indicating that it will be inevitable to plug the gap being left in the Treasury by electric vehicle uptake.
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The report by MPs gives a clear message: act now to plug a £35 billion funding gap in the treasury. The system proposed to do this would be a system based on miles travelled and the type of vehicle, enabling the Government to still collect a tax from road usage by motor vehicles. As part of the request for evidence by the committee, the CIHT made it clear in its submission that:
…the best road pricing scheme is one where the price of driving varies according to time and location of driving such as the system currently in place in Singapore. This would mean that the most expensive driving will be at times when roads are highly congested and for road pricing to be acceptable to the public there needs to be affordable, convenient and healthy alternatives in place for those whose only option it is to drive
Therefore, CIHT welcomes the recommendation of a system based on miles travelled, as was outlined in the evidence submitted.
In addition to this evidence submitted, the CIHT has previously it’s support of a road pricing system in previous publications such as Improving Local Highways. Here, the CIHT’s position was clear:
CIHT sees opportunities for road pricing to address congestion, reduce carbon and provide a potential funding source.
CIHT sees a clear link with how the vision of the LHN (outlined previously) could be delivered through tools such as road pricing funding. More specifically, the vision indicated that the LHN needs to address climate change, and CIHT sees opportunities for road pricing funding to manage congestion and to manage carbon.
Therefore, while it is important to implement such a scheme, it should be done in a manner that is not primarily based on collecting a tax. A scheme such as road pricing should be positioned with decarbonisation and health being the main drivers of such, not solely economically driven.
This is not a new issue, but the way in which we do it is, and it is of particular importance to our membership as highlighted on CIHT Connect.
More to follow on this subject.
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