The Central London Congestion Charging scheme became operational on 17 February 2003. Changes were forecast to congestion levels and public transport and a range of established methods were used to measure the actual impacts. However, the potential impacts on the day-to-day lives of Londoners were less clear. As with all five key areas of the Monitoring Programme the social impacts programme was required to monitor the situation before and after the introduction of the scheme. TfL developed the main programme of research with two academic advisors who specialise in the field of social and transport research and appointed contractors. A range of methodologies were adopted which when considered together provide a comprehensive picture of the impacts. The most substantial part of the programme involved face to face surveys of respondents in households from a selection of neighbourhoods inside the zone and in inner London and also telephone surveys of individuals living in Outer London and beyond the M25. A panel of these respondents were interviewed both before and after the introduction of the charge. A key finding was that people were not affected to the extent and magnitude that they had expected to be. Generally more respondents experienced no change and where there was an impact it tended to be more positive than expected, particularly so in Inner and Outer London. The main negative impacts tended to be in relation to changes in social gatherings with friends and family and difficulties in local parking. The main positive experiences tended to relate to reduction in congestion and improved public transport.xample charging zone residents were most positive about changes to their journeys and their local area, and residents in Inner London made more changes to their journeys into the zone. However, one notable feature of these results was that where there were differences between groups of respondents they were often very variable, not necessarily consistent nor as may have been predicted, for example low income respondents did not find it any more difficult to pay the full charge than other respondents, respondents were less positive generally about their travel experiences than when asked about a specific journey, and there were few differences in overall responses from men and women (usually a common theme in transport studies). By early 2005 these elements of the social monitoring programme were complete, providing the opportunity to further combine analyses and take stock of lessons learnt before planning new programmes. Views on the limitations of the programme varied depending on different requirements and expectations of the data, and tended to relate to the analysis of the data, timescales in producing results, sampling methodology and the inability on occasion to disaggregate the impact of the charge from other background factors. However, there were definite strengths of the programme.For the covering abstract please see ITRD E135207.
Samenvatting