The Mayor of London’s plans to expand the ultra-low emission zone don’t go far enough, according to Green assembly member Zack Polanski.
Speaking on LBC radio, Polanski said he was disappointed that Sadiq Khan didn’t set out a road pricing scheme as well.
Plans to bring in daily charges for all petrol and diesel cars have been pushed back to 2030, which Polanski believes is too late.
Zack said: ‘Now the mayor today could have announced a new privacy friendly, smart, fair road pricing scheme. And instead he’s gone for this interim measure. And that charging scheme would mean that every car gets charged based on the type of car it is, the emissions, the roads it’s using, the time of day it’s using so that’s a much more specific charge on where and what they’re driving.’
Polanski believes a longer-term solution is to improve public transport. ‘We need better and more regular buses, where it’s often cheaper to drive you car than take public transport or walk or cycle so we really need to reverse that too.’ The ULEZ expansion is due to come in before the end of next year with the most polluting cars having to pay a daily charge of £12.50 to driver anywhere in Greater London.