Congestion Charging - Summary of Week Six
Source: http://www.tfl.gov.uk , ,
The smooth start to the scheme is continuing with traffic levels still well down
on a normal working week
Traffic
- Traffic levels inside the zone again remained light throughout
the week. Observations suggest the lower traffic levels are beginning to stabilise
with around 20% less traffic entering the zone across the charging day.
- Traffic flowed well, including on the Inner Ring Road, the boundary
road of the zone.
- Preliminary data suggests there is little evidence of diverted
traffic on roads beyond the Inner Ring Road.
- Operations
- Payments of the charge for Friday 21 March were around 99,000
- Payments of the charge for each day throughout this week were:
- 95,000 (Monday)
- 99,000 (Tuesday)
- 101,000 (Wednesday)
- 101,000 (Thursday)
- Payments for today (Friday) are still being made
- In total, less than 15,000 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) are expected
to be issued for the week
- The reason for some of the PCNs remains drivers making a mistake
themselves when trying to pay the charge - usually by providing their own number
plate details incorrectly (a common mistake is people entering the letter o
rather than entering a zero).
- Payment channels (text messaging, retail, web and call centre) generally
worked well throughout the week.
21 March 2003, Congestion Charging - Summary of Week Five
Traffic
- Traffic levels inside the zone again remained light throughout
the week. Observations are suggesting that the lower traffic levels are beginning
to stabilise with around 20% less traffic entering the zone across the charging
day.
- Traffic flowed well, including on the Inner Ring Road, the boundary
road of the zone.
- Preliminary data suggests there is little diverted traffic on
roads beyond the Inner Ring Road.
Buses
- Bus services ran well all week. Latest data on buses and congestion
charging was given in TfL Press Notice 666 (18 March 2003)
- Operations
- Payments of the charge for Friday 14 March were around 100,000
- Approaching half a million payments are expected to have been
made this week by midnight on Friday 21 March
- Payments of the charge for each day throughout the week were:
- 94,000 (Monday)
- 98,000 (Tuesday)
- 99,000 (Wednesday)
- 100,000 (Thursday)
- Payments for today (Friday) are still being made
- For the first four weeks of the scheme, the percentage split between
all sales channels was:
- Retail 36%
- Call centre 28%
- Web 16%
- SMS 15%
- Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) 4%
- Post 1%
- The congestion charging web site has been receiving around 70,000
hits per day on average
- Discount registrations now total:
- Blue Badge 100,582
- Residents 22,185
- Other 7,186
- In total, less than 15,000 Penalty Charge Notices are expected
to be issued for the week
- Payment channels (text messaging, retail, web and call centre)
generally worked well throughout the week.
14 March 2003, Congestion Charging - Summary of Week Four
- Traffic levels inside the zone again remained light throughout
the week; observations indicated traffic was at a similar level to last week.
- A summary of indicative traffic flows before and after congestion
charging can be found in the attached graph.
- Payments of the charge for Friday 7 March were 99,000
- Almost half a million payments are expected to have been made
this week by midnight today (Friday 14 March)
- Payments of the charge for each day throughout the week were:
- 96,000 (Monday)
- 98,000 (Tuesday)
- 100,000 (Wednesday)
- 100,000 (Thursday)
- Payments for today (Friday) are still being made
- In total, less than 20,000 Penalty Charge Notices are expected
to be issued for the week
- Payment channels (text messaging, retail, web and call centre)
generally worked well throughout the week
7 March 2003, Congestion Charging - Summary of Week Three
Traffic
- Traffic levels inside the zone again remained light throughout
the week, Observations indicated traffic was around 17-18% lower than in a
typical working week.
- Traffic flowed well, including on the Inner Ring Road, the boundary
road of the zone.
Buses
- Bus services ran well all week. Latest data from Week One (w/c
17 February) indicate that delays to bus services caused by traffic congestion
more than halved
- Operations
- Payments of the charge for Friday 28 February topped 100,000 for
the first time.
- Almost half a million payments are expected to have been made
this week by midnight on Friday 28 February
- Payments of the charge for each day throughout the week were:
- 95,000 (Monday)
- 98,000 (Tuesday)
- 96,000 (Wednesday)
- 100,000 (Thursday)
- Payments for today (Friday) are still being made
- In total, around 25,000 Penalty Charge Notices are expected to
be issued for the week
- Payment channels (text messaging, retail, web and call centre)
generally worked well throughout the week.
Derek Turner, TfL Managing Director of Street Management, said:
"We are pleased to see traffic levels in and around the zone still well
down on a normal working week. The news that delays to bus services fell by
over 50% in the first week of congestion charging is great news for the 4.8
million people that use London's bus services every working day.
"The payment systems continue to work very well with more and more people
finding that paying by text message is both quick and convenient. To get the
best and quickest possible service those paying the charge should make sure
that they have their vehicle licence number correctly noted when they pay and
that they retain the receipt from paying their charge."
28 February 2003, Congestion Charging - Summary of Week Two
Traffic
- Traffic levels inside the zone remained light throughout the week,
Observations indicated traffic was around 20% lower than in a typical working
week.
- Traffic flowed well, including on the Inner Ring Road, the boundary
road of the zone. One significant incident was the diversion into the zone
of some traffic on Monday evening after an incident in Grays Inn Road. The
procedures laid down for such an incident went very smoothly. Police and traffic
managers worked jointly to clear the area and then reopen all routes as quickly
as possible.
- Bus services ran well all week.
Operations
- Almost half a million payments are expected to have been made
this week by midnight on Friday 28 February
- Payments of the charge for each day throughout the week were:
- 93,000 (Monday)
- 97,000 (Tuesday)
- 99,000 (Wednesday)
- 98,000 (Thursday)
- Payments for today (Friday) are still being made
- In total, around 30,000 Penalty Charge Notices are expected to
be issued for the week
- Payment channels (text messaging, retail, web and call centre)
generally worked well throughout the week although there was an interruption
to the web payment facility for a short period late on Thursday evening.
A TfL spokesperson said:
"The smooth start to the scheme is continuing with traffic levels still
well down on a normal working week and the systems working well dealing with
many thousands of successful transactions every day."
25 February 2003, Congestion charging - Summary of week 1
Traffic
- Traffic levels inside the zone were light, even for a half-term
week. Observations indicated traffic was around 20-25% lower in the first
week of congestion charging than in a typical working week.
- Traffic flowed well, including on the Inner Ring Road, the boundary
road of the zone; no significant problems reported throughout the week.
- Bus service ran well all week and was not overcrowded.
Operations
- Payments of the charge for each day throughout the week were:
- 87,000 (Monday)
- 92,000 (Tuesday)
- 94, 000 (Wednesday)
- 95,000 (Thursday)
- 94,000 (Friday)
- In total, around 34,000 PCNs issued for the first week of congestion
charging
- Payment channels (text messaging, retail, web and call centre)
worked satisfactorily
Derek Turner, TfL Managing Director of Street Management, said:
"The first week of congestion charging has been encouraging with the
systems working, people understanding the scheme and hundreds of thousands of
transactions being successfully undertaken every day. We've had a smooth start
to the scheme.
"However we know that, initially, we had some occasional problems. For
example, we are aware a small number of people may have been incorrectly sent
a PCN. One likely reason for this is human error on our part, with operatives
misentering number plate details into the system. Improved quality control is
being introduced to tackle this. If someone believes they have been sent a PCN
incorrectly, then they should write to us and we will consider their case.
"Likewise, we understand some people have had occasional problems trying
to pay the charge. Whether someone is paying the charge by text message, over
the web, at a retail outlet or over the phone, they should get a transaction
number to ensure the payment has been successfully completed.
"We apologise for any errors or any shortcomings in customer service
experienced by any individual and, working with our contractor Capita, we are
resolving these teething problems as soon as possible."
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