Even if you don’t care about pollution causing climate change, there’s no denying that it hurts air quality, and gas-powered cars are a big part of that problem in cities. As a result, countries around the world that care about their citizens being able to breathe have introduced congestion policies to limit the number of gas-powered cars in particularly crowded areas. Of course, business owners love to claim charging people to drive into the city will ruin them financially, but a recent study from the UK’s Centre for Cities found that restricting automobile traffic doesn’t hurt businesses at all.
London expanded its ultra-low emissions zone back in 2023, and as usual, business owners freaked out. They were going to lose all their customers, and the lack of revenue would drive them to bankruptcy, they said. Using credit card transaction data from around the city, Centre for Cities found there was a small dip in spending right after the expanded ULEZ went into effect, but data from previous years shows that may have been a seasonal change, not the result of drivers having to pay to enter those parts of the city. Ultimately, the study came to the conclusion that “there was no above–expected negative spending effect caused by ULEZ’s expansion.”
That doesn’t necessarily mean no businesses were negatively affected at all. If you owned a business in the zone selling objects that are too large to fit on the train before, for example, the new rules could be a problem. Overall, though, it seems the foot and bike traffic made up for any customers who chose not to shop in the city because of the congestion charge, and it’s another piece of evidence that congestion charges don’t hurt businesses.
What London’s expanded ULEZ has done, however, is help clean up the city’s air quality even faster than expected. That’s a big deal in a city known for having the worst air quality in the country. In a press release, the British government said:
The report shows that London’s air quality at the roadside is continuing to improve at a faster rate than the average for the rest of England. In 2014, the gap in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels between London and the rest of England was 20 µg/m3, whereas now it is less than 5 µg/m3. The expansion brought five million more Londoners into the ULEZ, and today’s report shows that outer London - which has historically had worse air quality than the rest of England average – now has levels of pollution much closer to levels in the rest of the country.
Even in the short six-month timeframe covered by the report, roadside NO2 concentrations in outer London have dropped by up to 4.4 per cent compared to what would have been expected without the London-wide expansion of the scheme. Given the size of outer London, every percent makes a huge difference.
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Today’s preliminary data reveals significant progress, with a further report expected in early 2025 which will examine the first full year of the London-wide ULEZ expansion. The one-year report will be supported by an independent advisory group of experts and provide an even more comprehensive analysis of the air quality and traffic impacts of the scheme.
Cleaner air, quieter and more enjoyable neighborhoods, a more interconnected community and a lower risk of being run over? That sounds like a pretty great deal to us. Sounds like good things are ahead for Manhattan, too, now that it’s implemented congestion pricing of its own.