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Gothenburg city traffic falls by one fifth after congestion charge on Monday

Monday, 07 January 2013
Rush hour traffic in Gothenburg, the second biggest city in Sweden after Stockholm, which instituted its own congestion charge zone on Wednesday 2, 2013 is seeing its traffic to the city centre fallen by an estimated one fifth.
This comes from an initial official data compiled to determine the changes in traffic patterns into the central part of the city after the charging zone was instituted and whether the desired goals were being attained.

Between 6.30 hours and 8.30 hours, on Monday morning, averagely, 91,600 vehicles passed through the tollbooths into the city - 19 percent less than a day without congestion charge.

This measurement was particularly important on Monday because it was the first real working day after the Christmas and News Year holidays and school also started on the day. This means that traditionally there would be an increased movement on the day as such it will be a better day to get a near accurate measure of traffic flow.

This would also give a better indication of how everyday traffic could be affected by the congestion charge regime.

Despite that, though, a group of Gothenburg residents who believe that its design and implementation were undemocratic is contesting the congestion charge policy. Led by the tabloid paper, GT, more than 45000 signatures have been collected to try to force a referendum on the issue.

The authorities argue that it was constitutional and that any referendum will not change any thing as to whether the congestion charge stays to not. The authorities argued that the purpose of the congestion charge, according to the Transport Agency, was to reduce congestion and help finance infrastructure investments in the so-called Western Swedish package, such as a new road tunnel under a mean river.
by Scancomark.com Team

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