On 9^th November 2018 the LPHCA petition on change.org received a response from the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. When setting up a petition on change.org you are required to select a 'Decision Maker' that helps target the people who make decisions on the subject you are petitioning about.

When our petition had just under 10,000 signatures, the LPHCA office received a response from Sadiq Khan as our 'Decision Maker'. The response comes from the Mayor of London's account but is signed off 'Public Liaison Unit' so we are unsure whether this has come from the Mayor himself, or one of his team.

Whilst the LPHCA and petitioners are grateful to Mayor Khan for the courtesy of a response, regrettably for the Mayor and those in his team who have put forward this idea, the proposal remains flawed. The LPHCA calls upon the Mayor to drop this self-defeating policy that his own colleagues in the London Assembly, as well as his political opponents, overwhelmingly voted against.

The facts remain that this proposal is full of feeble presumptions that just do not stack up, as it will not reduce pollution or congestion, it will simply increase costs for users of London’s greenest form of door-to-door transport. Meanwhile we continue to urge everyone who either uses Private Hire Vehicles, or works in our industry, to sign the petition.

Sadiq Khan's Response to the LPHCA Congestion Charge Petition

Dear Petitioner,

Thank you for the petition submitted on the change.org website about proposed changes to the Congestion Charge.

There is an urgent need to tackle increasing congestion and toxic air in central London. Congestion causes delays to vital bus services, pushes air pollution to critical levels and makes too many places unpleasant for walking and cycling. Appropriate interventions are required to address these issues.

In recent years, the impact of the Congestion Charge on congestion has lessened due to the increasing number of vehicles exempt from paying. Only half of the vehicles in the Congestion Charge zone in charging hours now pay the full charge.

Private Hire Vehicles (PHVs) play an important role in London’s transport system, providing an alternative when walking, cycling and public transport are not an option. However, there are many more PHVs in the Congestion Charge zone than was expected in 2003 when the exemption was introduced. At that time, Transport for London (TfL) estimated around 4,000 PHVs would be in the zone during charging hours whereas now around 18,000 PHVs are seen in the zone each day. This is a considerable increase that needs to be addressed.

The proposed changes to the Congestion Charge have taken into account the role PHVs play in accessible transport and designated wheelchair accessible PHVs will not be required to pay the charge. Additionally, PHVs that meet the proposed Cleaner Vehicle Discount requirement would continue to be exempt.

In developing these proposals, TfL has considered the potential impacts – both positive and negative - on private hire drivers and operators, as well as passengers. The research report on the impact on the industry, as well as the Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA), formed part of the consultation materials and are published in full on the consultation website.

These studies indicated that the impact of these proposals on PHV passengers, operators and drivers would depend on a number of factors. These include the type of business model of the operator and whether the cost is passed onto the passenger, in whole or in part. The impacts are not likely to fall on any single group and they will each decide how they choose to deal with the charge.

It is important to remember that passengers, operators and drivers, as well as the wider population, would benefit from positive impacts from reduced traffic and better air quality.

As mentioned above, TfL has formally consulted on the proposed changes to the Congestion Charge. The consultation closed on Friday 28^th September, and the issues raised are now being reviewed. The Mayor will consider all the points raised and will then decide whether to confirm the proposals as described, or to make changes to them. The Mayor will publicly announce his final decision, and TfL will also publish their Consultation Report in due course.