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Following the introduction of the original c-charge streets overnight became empty the traffic at the elephant and castle where I worked dissapeared overnight. That is the reality of this charge, most people in central london use public transport or cycle or walk its only a small minority who choose to drive.

As for scrapping the charge I am yet to hear what will be done to prevent gridlock returning and if areas of west london already suffer from congestion then removing the charge will make things worse.

There is only one real alternative and that is to widen and upgrade our roads to take cars this will mean demolition of all the old victorian properties which were already condemed before the war and building six-lane dual carraigeways throgh shepherds bush and notting hill.

Truble is we now have a mayor who wants to remove the charge but is not willing to build the infrustructure to handle SOV's (Single Occupied Vehicles) people complain about Bendy-Buses but at least theyy can hold 140 passengers in much less space than 140 4x4's!

- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex

Boris promised to get rid of it. That was one of the main reasons for voting for him. (That, and everyone outside of the asylum hates Ken).
It would be a sad day for Boris if he pulled a Ken and stabbed us all in the back now.
Whatever Boris does he had better be sure that he takes heed of what real Londoners think about the charge and I don't mean the ones that Red Ken was trying to buy votes off of. If he does this it will be gone and the main Kengestion charge with be next to fall. horay!

- Jimbob, Kensington

Sheperds Bush is a car park because Wood Lane is shut, plane and simple. Of course it is shut for the construction of the very big shopping centre, which will attract even more cars to the area, so maybe it will just get worse!

- Sally Wyvern, London UK

Drivers' already pay more than enough to use the roads. We pay for heavily taxed fuel, ever increasing VED and a special tax on cars when new.

Road pricing is a step too far and penalising people for choosing to use their already overtaxed car with a congestion charge is nothing more than legalised theft.

The parking charges in London imposed on those who park outside their houses is another example of the anti-car policies encouraged by red Ken.

Boris won his election with a policy to remove the charge and this he must do.

- Peter Roberts - Drivers' Alliance, Telford - UK

I lived near the Kilburn High Road for 18 years, in Red Con's constituency, on the same street as one of Ken's £100,000 a year unadvertised policy advisers. The A5 is always congested, yes especially on Sundays, and funnily enough people don't complain about it. They hardly can, since they've made a daily vote with their wheels to be part of the crowd, rather than cooped up in some stifling, sweaty, expensive, seatless sardine-like hell wondering when the next connection is and trying to avoid the attentions of an anti-social pest in the same carriage. Congestion is living mandate.
Contrary to Andy Arham's fantasies, There is NO mass movement demanding the introduction of a C-charge on the A5, and Ken always avoided introducing it in his own back yard. Brian Paddick, the only big 3 candidate proposing to extend the charge to outer London (where it is decisively not wanted, even more so than in central London), got a stunningly bad result for the Liberal Democrats - possibly their worst ever. Paddick's ill-researched and unconsulted idea was quietly and very quickly dropped as if it had never been raised. Oops!

- John Batchellor, UK

Utter codswallop. Teh congestion charge has funded new bus services that make getting around London for low income workers much easier. With the price of insurance and petrol in London really low paid staff can't afford a car anyway and people needed to use vans for work can claim the expense back from the tax man.

As for the 'children can't be driven to school' argument then that's a good thing - let them take the bus like I did when growing up rather than having school rush traffic blocking the roads.

No doubt My Bailey is trying to score some cheap political points with his middle class electorate. If he actually believed the congestion charge was such a bad thing he'd call for its scrapping across the whole of London, not just for him and his NINBY neighbours.

- Iain Thomson, London

There are just too many cars, you're right there.
However pricing them off the street does no one any favours. As many small businesses and families can attest to.

Improve a transport system that could be the envy of the world. And take a leaf out of Germany's transport system, which isn't run for profit!!!
Life in London, will only become worse until someone comes to their senses with this greed mentality.

- Simon Caleb, London

The golden age of motoring is long gone.The 'powers that be' are dishing out harsh medicine in the form of congestion charges,red routes and the like.
Instead of keeping the traffic flowing as much as possible(a policeman on point duty could do better than the shambles we have now),they are forcing us out of our cars,vans and lorries and onto 'orrible buses.
Witness how traffic lights now only let three of four cars through at any one time and the amount of unattended roadblocks(sorry,roadworks-no one actually working on them)that are contributing to the gridlock.
It is a revoloution and all revoloutions are painful for many people.Pity the poor hapless bods who try and kep our city going,delivering all our 'stuff'.
I gave up.
toot toot.

- E. Smith, London SW2

Even Transport for London (TfL) admit that the Western Extension has not improved congestion in that zone, and neither has there been any improvement in air quality. The whole scheme is just a total waste of money, generating massive profits for the operators at the expense of Londoners. Let's scrap it as the first step to removing these taxes on travel.

- Roger Lawson, London, UK

Shaun Bailey is trying to get elected as MP for Hammersmith and hopes this is his ticket to Westminster. I'm sure it will go down well with the poor impovrished Chelsea tractor drivers he hopes will stick their X by his name.

- Tony Mcmahon, London, UK

If we really want it to work, it should be increased, but cars given a reduction for each passenger. As Jane Smith correctly notes congestion is worse at weekends. If we really want to give the city back to the public the charge should run 24 hours a day at weekends.

- Patrick Griffin, Dalston, London

There is a lot of pap being talked about the Kengestion Charge by politically motivated interests. I live just outside the zone, and it has definitely made things worse by distorting travel patterns. Transport For London surveys show that many people have difficulty in paying it.

The main problem is not so much 'too many cars' as the cynical removal of road space by local authorities, working to the former Mayor's 'green' travel blueprint. Things are made worse by bus lanes, which are usually empty, and by mega-clangers like the pedestrianisation of Trafalgar Square, which impacted traffic flows even miles away.

Boris has got the right starting point in aiming to keep traffic moving.

- Jools, London

He does make a valid point about the expectant mother needing to get to hospital. Travelling on public transport is an absolute nightmare if you are pregnant or have a child in a pushchair (or both!) Tubes are nearly always overcrowded and there are practically no lifts or ramps in stations which means you have to lug buggies up steep flights of stairs or stand like a lemon until some Good Samaritan offers to help. The public transport system is inaccessible to people with disabilities and those with pre-school children - who I think should be exempt from the congestion charge, along with keyworkers and those on low incomes, although I will do doubt be shot down in flames for saying this. However, I challenge my detractors to try getting across London on public transport with a toddler in a buggy and while eight months pregnant, or in a wheelchair, and see if they still have the same enthusiasm for public transport. Travelling by car is often the only option for some.

- Lindsay, london

Scrap the whole thing, not just the extension. Put all the cameras and IT equipment on eBay to re-coup some costs.

- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland

Oh rubbish, total gibberish. Hammersmith was a car park long before red ken put the congestion charge in. Try getting out of London down the Kilburn High Road, past Willesden and beyond, is that the fault of the congestion charge? Maybe it was Jonny Vegas's fault? Stop bleating on about the congestion charge being unjust or causing traffic peoblems, it isn't and it doesn't. There's just too many cars.

- Andy Arham, Putney, London

Shaun Bailey should come to Shepherd's Bush on a Sunday to see how bad the traffic is. The borough has always suffered form conjestion, but it is far worse on Sunday when there is no conjestion charge in operation.
Instead of trying to jump on the bandwagon, why does he not come up with real solutions to traffic congestion. I suspect he does not have one!

- Jane Smith, Shepherds bush

And what of the shift workers who live in some of London's most deprived areas in South Lambeth and Elephant and Castle, that have managed to cope with the central charge zone admirably?

I'm sorry, I don't buy the argument for K&C. Finding a deprived inner city estate as a justification for why the charge should be scrapped for all of the area is baloney. London's poorest cannot afford cars. They certainly cannot afford daily parking if they were to drive into the charge zone for work. Such people have actually benefited from the charge, as bus services have been augmented, and journey times are now quicker.

We need to be grown up about this - London has a finite amount of road space, and it needs to be rationed in order to keep the city moving. Priority should always be given to public transport and commercial vehicles, without which the city cannot operate. Private vehicles should be bottom of the priority list, as there are other viable options (namely buses, tubes), and, for situations where there are not, the rationing mechanism (i.e. the Congestion Charge) provides a means by which they can make that journey, either for free at off peak times, or for a charge during the charge period.

- Mark Lee, Vauxhall

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