Should diesel vehicles be banned from the city centre?

[geared]

Of course they use large vehicles because it's the most cost effective for them. But that doesn't mean that it is necessarily best for society as a whole, in terms of congestion and associated pollution.

 

That's why I suggested that the tax system could be used to incentivise them to change to smaller vehicles.

 

Yes but what comes in one HGV would need loads of smaller vans, it'd still be cheaper to deliver in a HGV even with a tax.

[Eater Sundae]

Yes but what comes in one HGV would need loads of smaller vans, it'd still be cheaper to deliver in a HGV even with a tax.

 

It would depend on the tax and how it is administered. High charges for HGVs to enter city centres, for example, might be a way to persuade companies to use more environmentally acceptable delivery methods.

 

If we, as a society, want to alter people's behaviour, we can either ban what we don't like, or use a combination of carrot and stick to persuade people to act differently

Edited April 12, 2017 by Eater Sundae

[silentP]

They already have eco friendly trucks on our roads using natural gas, not many I'll grant you but its a start..

[geared]

They already have eco friendly trucks on our roads using natural gas, not many I'll grant you but its a start..

 

I've seen LNG trucks in other countries, none over here.

I don't think we have the LNG infrastructure to support all the HGVs we have in this country.

 

but you make a good point and I don't know why LNG isn't pushed as an eco solution.

[silentP]

I've seen LNG trucks in other countries, none over here.

I don't think we have the LNG infrastructure to support all the HGVs we have in this country.

 

but you make a good point and I don't know why LNG isn't pushed as an eco solution.

 

It's limited to double figures at present by all accounts but demand is increasing slowly.

[Puggie]

but seeing as how half of all car journeys are only a few miles, i present to you the bicycle! (see the Netherlands for more information)

 

What we've got to remember is that there will always be trade-offs, even with the humble bicycle.

 

Take London for example where the number of cyclists has grown tremendously over the last decade. London's cycling community are now a force to be reckoned with having mobilised themselves politically. They're competing against other stakeholders for investment by lobbying their local authorities to spend 100s of millions of pounds on new cycling infrastructure at the taxpayer's expense.

 

An article published in the [London's Evening Standard] today says London companies are coming under increasing pressure to accommodate the needs of cyclists by building shower blocks and indoor storage facilities to house all their bicycles.

[Phili Buster]

It would depend on the tax and how it is administered. High charges for HGVs to enter city centres, for example, might be a way to persuade companies to use more environmentally acceptable delivery methods.

 

If we, as a society, want to alter people's behaviour, we can either ban what we don't like, or use a combination of carrot and stick to persuade people to act differently

 

 

That could well be the answer, a high tax to deter HGV's entering city centres.

 

However a similar idea based upon charges for parking was enacted by SCC (plus nonsensical road planning) which would have appeared to have moved many shoppers out of the city centre, as required, into out of town shopping centres and a city centre that is slowly fading.

[the_bloke]

Of course they use large vehicles because it's the most cost effective for them. But that doesn't mean that it is necessarily best for society as a whole, in terms of congestion and associated pollution.

 

That's why I suggested that the tax system could be used to incentivise them to change to smaller vehicles.

 

That line of thinking would make sense if the required number of smaller vehicles somehow reduced congestion or pollution. What's better, a lorry or 15 vans?

[top4718]

The minister (Labour I believe) who advocated us all to switch to deisel as a cleaner alternative to petrol should be found and arrested for fraud - that would be a place to start.

[Guest sibon]

The minister (Labour I believe) who advocated us all to switch to deisel as a cleaner alternative to petrol should be found and arrested for fraud - that would be a place to start.

 

In what way is it fraud?