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The Manchester Congestion Charge makes me furious.

There is soon to be a public vote on the scheme, and the “YES” and “NO” camps are increasing their publicity on the locality.

Let’s compare Manchester with London.

London’s public transport network is the largest in the country and comprehensively covers a wide area.  In London, there can be little excuse for wanting to cross the chargeable zones in a motor vehicle, and so I wholly support their congestion charge.

Manchester’s public transport is bloody awful.  The idea behind the congestion charge is that the income it brings in will pay for improvements to the public transport network.

What absolute rubbish.  Why on earth should people with no alternative means of commuting or going about their daily business have to foot the bill for building infrastructure?  I would gladly use public transport if it were a viable transport option for the journeys I have to make – petrol, insurance and vehicle maintenance: give me an Oyster card any day!  The people who should pay a congestion charge are, like in London, those who won’t use public transport rather than those who can’t.

If the money is going to be brought in from congestion charging, then the local government should borrow the cash, build the infrastructure and then introduce the fee.  Of course this won’t happen because there is no real intention to spend the money on improving the public transport network – not when this may reduce the cash cow that is congestion charging.

This is why I’ll be voting no.