SUPPLEMENTARY LICENSING: AN EVALUATION

The Greater London Council (GLC) recently published the results of a study on supplementary licensing, a proposed new method of traffic restraint that would require drivers of certain vehicles to purchase special licenses to use their vehicles at specified times in designated areas. The study considered the proposal as a means of providing traffic restraint in inner London; reviewed the effects of a number of alternative schemes on traffic patterns, on the environment and on the social and commerical framework of London; and determined the practical requirements of these alternatives. This article summarizes the methods used and the results obtained. The study concluded that all-day control in the central area would be the most efficient from of control, unless environmental gains from the extension of control to the inner area in the peak could be shown to outweight the reduction in other benefits and the increased staffing problems. The GLC decided in July 1975 not to proceed with the supplementary licensing but to seek legislation to allow it to tax private parking spaces. The reasons given for rejecting the supplementary licensing were the adverse effect on the lower income motorist and on those with special needs and the problems of enforcement. The GLC has asked for information on similar schemes being considered or implemented elsewhere and for further evaluation of alternative measures that would overcome the problems it had identified.