Introduction

The Government through a new body called the Tif (Transport Innovation Fund), propose to spend £2.8bn on transport in Manchester.

There appear to be a lot of good ideas within it to reduce conjestion by encouraging travellers to move from their cars to public transport.

Since the luanch of the proposals in June, there has been a lot of debate in the press about the pros and cons of the scheme. However, there has been no independant assessment of the scheme in its entirety. Rather it is, mostly interested individuals who either cannot bear to have any disruption to their lives, or who have a dislike of people using their cars.

I endeavour to answer the question

‘Will the investment, partly paid for by a congestion charge, be of net benefit to society?’

My short answer is

‘No – not by a country mile’

The longer answer is that

–                           Motorists will not only suffer the conjestion charge, but through increased conjestion caused by bus lanes and blocking of roads at the charge boundaries.

–                           Those switching from cars to public transport will spend longer travelling on average, and may cost more.

–                           The time savings for public transport users will be small.

–                           The environmental impact will be small.

However, I need to make many estimates, based on limited knowledge and my own biases. This is why I state my assumptions. As more information is released, then I will update these projections.