No shortage of opinions about congestion charges

Helsinki residents more positive than those in Espoo or Vantaa

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According to a survey commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat and conducted by Suomen Gallup, 54 per cent of all Helsinki residents are in favour of congestion charges, while only 41 per cent of the citizens in Espoo and Vantaa support the proposal.
      In fact, nearly everybody appeared to have an opinion on the contentious issue, as only 5 per cent of the respondents did not know what to say.
     
In any survey, the proportion of those who are unable or unwilling to make their stand clear is usually higher than the 5 per sent of this survey.
      Why do people have such a clear opinion on congestion charges?
      ”People think that they know what a congestion charge means”, said Juhani Tervala, the Director-General of Transport Policy Department at the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
      Tervala is chairing a working party that is examining various alternatives for the potential introduction of congestion charges in the Greater Helsinki area.
      On Monday, Tervala’s office sent a questionnaire on the proposed congestion charges to all interested parties, including the cities in the Greater Helsinki area, ten other municipalities in the surrounding region of Uusimaa, the regional councils, the Helsinki Region Chamber of Commerce, and various traffic organisations.
      The group is expected to complete its examinations in about a year, by the spring of 2009.
     
Tervala believes that people’s opinions on the proposed congestion charges are so clearly divided into two groups as they do not have any idea of them.
      Even the working party set up by the Ministry needed one year to make it clear to themselves what a congestion charge actually involves.
      How could ordinary people be able to answer questions arising from the issue?
      ”Will it be introduced for rush-hour traffic only or round the clock? Are there any roads which it does not cover? Will it apply to all kinds of vehicles?”
      ”First we should find out what the purpose of the proposed congestion charge is. Could it be to collect money for example for public transport? Or could the goal be to reduce road traffic in the Greater Helsinki area, for instance by 15 to 25 per cent? What other goals might there be”, Tervala asked.
      In Tervala’s own view, it is not worthwhile to introduce congestion charges just to collect money, as there are easier ways to do that. One of them is fuel taxation.
     
When all other questions have been answered, one question remains, namely ”how should the congestion charges be collected?”
      ”The costs must not be higher than ten per cent of the collected funds”, noted Tervala, who takes the view that the otherwise apparently successful London experiment has been an economic failure, in that the costs of collection are up around 50% of revenue.
     
In the second part of the survey, Helsingin Sanomat asked where the proposed congestion charges should be collected.
      Should the motorists pay a charge on all roads leading to the centre of Helsinki or on ring roads only - or both?
      A total of 44 per cent of all Helsinki residents would impose a charge on the border of the city centre, while 38 per cent of respondents would collect charges in both places.
      Some 53 per cent of Espoo citizens and 55 per cent of Vantaa residents would collect congestion charges at the gates of the capital, while fewer than one in three people would impose a charge at their own gates, in other words on ring roads.
     
The survey was carried out at the end of February and the beginning of March and involved interviews with 1,001 persons from Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa over the age of 18.
      The margin of error is plus or minus 3%.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Helsinki to study introduction of congestion charge (25.1.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat