[stav]

The UK's first low emissions zone came into force today, with London becoming the first city to enforce it.

Cameras will check all trucks over 12 tonnes going into the capital against a database of vehicles certified as meeting EU exhaust limits. This will be extended in the summer to cover buses and coaches.

Anything that will improve the air quality in my home town is a good thing I think. Vehicles that don't comply will have to pay a charge of £200 each time they enter the city, with a fine of £1000 for non-payment.

Are there any such schemes in the US? What is the general opinion here? Can these things work? I am hopeful that this will make a big difference, and that it wil be adopted by other cities in due course.

[Green-Moo]

Is this a different thing to the London congestion charge thing? When I heard about it I thought it was a different name for the same thing.

You said that in summer it is extending to buses & coaches. Do you know how big a vehicle has to be before it is classified as a coach? I just wondered whether operators will simply opt to use smaller vehicles to escape the regulations.

Green-Moo

[stav]

Hi Green-Moo, yes it is completely separate and covers a much wider area. The congestion charge only covers central London, but this will cover just over 600 sq miles.

All lorries over 12-tonnes will be affected, and therefore will be the same for buses. Getting a smaller bus will reduce emmissions so it's a good thing! They won't be escaping the regulations at all, they will be complying with them. They are only charged if they are polluting. If they get a new smaller bus/lorry, they won't be polluting!

All 12-tonners made after October 2001 are already within the low emissions guidelines, so new buses will be too. It's basically an attempt to get the biggest polluters out of the city.. Job done

[Angel]

I'm a bit puzzled by it. How do they check the emissions? The camera won't be able to tell will it so that means the truck company has to register somehow and then all the trucks will be checked that they are compying from a data base or something.
Mind you if they hadn't closed down all the railway lines in the 60s we wouldn't have to have all these trucks now.

[mollyL]

I wish there was such a program in the States, but as long as "Big Oil" holds so many of the politicians in thrall and with all the money they have to do evil, it is never going to happen.

[Timetrvlr]

Sounds like a great plan to me!

[stav]

Angel, all the lorries going through the City will be scanned and registration numbers checked against the database. Every Lorry has to be registered, and if it is one with a high emission engine then it pays the charge, they can tell this from the lorry model.

The idea is to encourage owners to upgrade their vehicles to a low emmission model, so that eventually there are no polluters coming into the city at all.

[Green-Moo]

I understand that the scheme will be extended to include more vehicles later on. Someone was complaining to me that eventually his Transit vans will have to comply. Now that sounds like a great idea to me as old white vans seem to be always belching smoke!

Green-Moo

[Lyndsey]

It's so encouraging to see priorities shifting like this. I also like Europe's efforts at creating more car free zones, traffic calming devices and coin or card operated "borrow a city bike" plans.

[stav]

All new vehicles are already complying, so the older ones which cause all the toxic smoke will be gradually phased out. Also, because it is costing them to bring these vehicles into London, it will encourage them to replace them sooner.