Sticks and Stones

Porsche has decided it will fight London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s increased Congestion Charge in court if necessary. Pitting itself against ‘Red Ken’, the most profitable automaker in the world has very vocally issued criticism of the new, increased price for driving into central London. The new charge is £25 per day for higher-emissions vehicles like Porsches.

Porsche joins the U.S. Embassy, several African High Commissions, and many of the writers here at Sticks and Stones in vehement opposition to Congestion Charging. I hate it because it makes travelling ludicrously expensive, and the alternative: public transport, is in no way affordable either. James hates it because it is prejudiced against the poor who cannot afford expensive cars like the Toyota Prius. Read his riposte of the increased Charge.

I hasten to point out the glaring hypocrisy of the plan: it rewards hybrid vehicles along with frugal small cars like the Renault Twingo. Lexus have added a few cells into their expensive and luxurious vehicles so as to make them ‘green’. The hypocrisy lies in the fact that despite the hybrid power-train (sourced from the not-so-green-itself Prius) the Lexus LS600h and RX400h emit nearly as much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as the non-hybrid models.

If the Congestion Charge allows these polluting Lexus LSs and RXs into London because somewhere amongst the V8 engines is a battery pack, why should Porsche owners pay to enter central London? The Lexus LS600h sinfully manages only 11 MPG while the Porsche 911 Turbo boasts 19.8 MPG.

Andy Goss, the Managing Director of Porsche Cars GB, rejects the tax as unjust. The automaker claims it is a disproportionate fee that will have a very limited effect on CO2 emissions. In the clearest terms possible: the Lexus pollutes more, consumes more petrol, and weighs more, but goes free. The Porsche pollutes less, consumes less petrol, weighs less but will cost £25 per day ($50) to drive into London.

Update: Porsche has set up a website detailing its argument, the procedure it wishes to implement for addressing the new Charge, and a page to fill out to register your support. I’ve already signed up.

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Ken Livingstone’s newest proposal is to introduce a city bike hire scheme with up to 6,000 bikes located across docking stations every 300 metres. It is rare that I support just about anything he does. I am not a fan of his transportation policies in general, nor do I like the fact that cost of living in this city keep rising. He acts as though he is a friend of the poor, one who wishes to make life cheaper for those south of the Thames: the section of London which elected him, and yet has done exactly the reverse, with mass transit fares rising year on year!

However on this occasion he has done something I like. The city bike hire scheme is, unlike the Low Emissions Zone, a good idea. Although they stem from the same environmental policy, the Low Emissions Zone hurts London by making it transportation costs for businesses rise. As a business gets richer, its transportation costs rise: consider it a penalty for success. This is because the larger the vehicle needed for supplies, the higher the emissions, the higher the L.E.Z. penalty.

From the press release about the bike hire scheme:

A Central London bike hire scheme, similar to the recently launched Paris scheme, with up to 6,000 bikes located across docking stations every 300m so Londoners and visitors have quick and easy access to a bike. This will be supported by a series of easily navigable routes so that people can enjoy London’s sights by bike.

The city bike hire scheme only applies to pedestrians, and is a genuine convenience; thanks to this measure, people can get around the vast city faster and cheaply: two things the rest of his massive transportation bureaucracy completely fails to achieve.

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