Thumbs down to 'guinea pig' city car trial
Clasrissa Satchell
A PAY-AS-YOU-GO car trial in Manchester would prompt an outcry from business - and 'Big Brother' complaints from civil liberties groups.
The Department for Transport has said Manchester is in the running to become a pilot for a scheme to charge drivers up to £1.34 a mile during rush hour.
Each car and lorry would be fitted with a black box to monitor all journeys.
Emma Antrobus, from Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, said: "We've been talking about road charges for years and some businesses believe there is a certain inevitability about them."
But she believes the majority of Manchester's businesses would be against a pilot scheme.
"If you look at other computer-based schemes that have gone forward nationally, like passports and child tax, the government doesn't have a great record of bringing them in smoothly and it could be very disruptive.
Revenue
"I think people would be reluctant to be seen as guinea pigs. But we need a solution to congestion and there is no easy option."
Paul Watters, head of road and transport policy for the AA motoring trust, also foresees technical problems. "It could be very confusing for people trying to understand the different tariffs.
"The idea of doing a pilot could help iron out some of the problems and I think Manchester has all the ingredients, being encircled by the M60 and a vibrant city with a light rapid transport scheme.
"It will be very interesting to see the impact on cities. There will be impacts on retail but since every city is different even a pilot scheme in one city might not give the full picture."
Improved
Steve Housham from Transport 2000, the national environmental transport body, said they supported road charging but public transport schemes like Metrolink should be improved first.
Brian Gregory, a founder of the Association of British Drivers, said he thought people in Manchester would refuse to allow the pilot. "I can foresee this becoming the government's poll tax on wheels. For it to work everyone will have to have a black box in their car and people will refuse on civil liberty grounds, I certainly will."
Steven Durrant, secretary for Manchester Green Party, said: "Although it's a good thing to try to reduce congestion, it is not challenging reliance on the car but just making people use their cars in other places instead.
"There's also a civil liberties angle in terms of tracking cars using satellite technology."
A spokesman for civil liberties action group Christian Voice said: "The technology they depend on will track every vehicle fitted with the 'spy-in-the-car' black box.
"Motorists will be paying for the transmitter and for the miles they drive, but the spin-off is that the government will know where every car is at every moment."
A Transport Department spokesman said: "Nowhere has been selected as the pilot yet, but we need to pick somewhere with a potential congestion problem that is also a large urban area. Clearly Manchester, and other places, fit that description."
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