Conclusion
The congestion charge argument will always rage on no matter how many facts and figures you throw about. It is understandable that TfL will always back their brainchild to the hilt. Therefore hundreds of pages providing data highlighting successful schemes will always be produced by the organisation. It is also not a surprise to see people who oppose the congestion charge conducting surveys of their own to see what the public thinks of the schemes.
One problem with the data from external sources from the TfL is that it seems that they don’t actually have the resources that TfL has. TfL will always have technology and bureaucratic power on their side. If you look at the Bell Report it has a valid point to make but only makes it about the trends in sales at John Lewis. The report also supplied information in a difficult to read manner and a conclusion wasn’t really clear with a supply of numeric data to confuse the reader.
Whether or not the scheme is a success or not depends on the view of you, the reader. If you think that the scheme should be helping businesses then the evidence supplied will make you think that it is a failure. If you are a member of the green party then you will be thinking that the scheme is a success. A drop in emissions will please the smallest of environmentally friendly people. If you think the charge should be reducing congestion then you could be happy or unhappy. How does TfL know that congestion is being cut by large enough amounts? They never stated what percentage they wanted to cut congestion down by, a 5% reduction can seem good in that situation.
Overall I think that everybody will have their views on whether it is a success or not. It depends on how each person interprets it. In my opinion I feel that the mayor was very clever, and highly political in his ways, with making a transport strategy that is so open to please.
