Should we pay to drive in York?

YES: Matthew Page lives in York and works for the Institute for Transport Studies at Leeds University

THE Evening Press's headline on May 23 said it all: "How do we put a stop to this?" above a familiar picture of snarled-up traffic in York city centre. According to the city council's own residents' opinion survey, people think traffic congestion is the biggest issue facing York.

At the moment traffic in York is being restrained simply by congestion itself. Everyone suffers, perhaps most of all motorists sitting in the inevitable jams. This "traffic management by congestion" is effective but it's a very blunt instrument - it delays the necessary as well as the unnecessary journey, fills the streets with stationary traffic and causes environmental problems.

Surely there are more efficient ways of allocating limited road-space?

As part of the development of the Local Transport Plan, the council has put together three options for investment it wants people to consider, but it admits that at least one option is beyond what it can afford. In addition, none of the options would actually reduce traffic - without policies which do more than just trying to tempt people out of their cars, congestion is still expected to grow.

At the bottom of the council's list is something it calls "local transport charges". This means paying, directly, for using the roads, either in the form of a workplace parking charge or road pricing.

While there can be few of us who would enjoy paying for something we have been used to getting for free, there is a logic to it. We have a scarce resource (road-space) which, everyone agrees, too many people are trying to use. The obvious answer is to ration it - and the most obvious way of rationing it is by price.

Of course, if we are going to restrain traffic, there will be those who lose out. But perhaps the biggest winners would be those who need to make their journeys by car or deliver goods by road. They might have to pay, but congestion would be less.

For many business people, these are benefits worth paying for. Tourists too, who come to York to appreciate a unique environment, might appreciate less crowded streets and let's not forget about the large number of households in York without a car.

Any scheme would have to be carefully designed to target congestion and would also have to be thought through and consulted on to make sure it made sense. I believe a sensibly designed road pricing scheme could allow motorists to go where they want, when they want, with less delay, but they might have to pay for the privilege.

In return, the council would be able to afford to provide excellent facilities for those who choose to walk, cycle, take public transport or Park & Ride. Overall, everyone could enjoy a more reliable, efficient and more environmentally friendly transport system.

NO: Denise Raven is spokesperson for the AA in Yorkshire and the North East

THE motorist is getting a raw deal. The money is there for investment in roads and alternative transport systems - petrol tax in the UK is the highest in Europe and there's also the vehicle excise duty - and it is not being spent where it is needed.

Only about 15 per cent of the tax motorists pay goes towards transport. The rest - 85 per cent - goes into the pot for whatever the Chancellor chooses to spend it on. While that is the case, it is not acceptable to expect the motorist to pay again in the form of road tolls.

Car growth is going to continue. It is an inevitability. It's no good looking back to the way things were 20 years ago and expecting people to stop using their cars.

The way we live our lives is different now. Many people travel to work. There is more choice about where we send our children to school. There are fewer local services - shops, banks and so on - in the area where people live.

Of course, there are people who drive because they enjoy driving.

There are probably certain journeys where we can maybe encourage people to think about not using their cars. But the number of these is not going to be huge. Many of us, because of the way we live today, need our cars. Without a car it can be very hard for people in rural areas, for example. There are no local schools, no local supermarket - and very often no local bus service either.

So we need to have a system that can work for the way people live today. We need to make the most of the road network that we've got.

That means better use of technology - so that if on the ring-road around York there is a traffic bulge at Clifton, we can re-direct cars to use the ring-road to the south side of the city and vice versa.

Businesses also need to be more flexible in their working times so we don't have that sudden rush of people wanting to use the roads in the morning and in the evening.

And more of the tax paid by motorists should be invested in transport. That doesn't mean we want an M1 that's 12 lanes wide: but there are a lot of bypasses in Yorkshire that would hugely improve the lives of communities.

Solutions such as Park & Ride and bus priority lanes may be worth considering - as long as they're in the right place and there is a proper need for them.

In some parts of the country bus lanes have not proved to be effective. There may be a small improvement in bus journey times but the bus lane takes up so much road space that every other road user is held up.

Councils need to be brave and to try a variety of solutions. If after six, 12 or 18 months, a solution has not done what it was meant to do, take it away and try something else.