The war on cars is backfiring

For most London-based politicians, there’s a threat that’s worse than Covid. You’ll begin to notice it as we ease out of lockdown. It’s not the Brazilian variant that keeps them awake at night, or collapsing hospitals. Nope. What really worries them is the thought of cars. Watch them pale as they mutter the words ‘car-led recovery’ and marvel at the variety of tortuous schemes cooked up to thwart motorists. You’d have thought, given the teetering economy, that any recovery, car-led or otherwise, would be welcome — especially as pollution plummeted between 2017 and early 2020, and diesel’s the problem, not your average commuter ride. Volvo said on Tuesday that all its cars will be fully electric by 2030. The pollution problem seems to be solving itself. But car-fear has seized the collective political mind and, I think, melted it.

The congestion charge is now £15, all day every day. That’s alarming enough as it is. But the logic behind the price hike is even scarier. There are fewer buses, says Sadiq Khan, because of funding cuts and drivers off sick. There is also (because of social distancing) less space on every train or bus. People will have no choice but to drive, so… it’s vital we stop them. Roll that logic around in your mind a little; enjoy the feeling. A London driver is like Paul, the hero of Stephen King’s Misery, to Khan’s Kathy Bates: ‘I had to chop your foot off to stop you escaping don’t you see? It’s for your own good, you naughty boy.’

In late summer, with very little notice or consultation, a number of London councils simply closed residential streets across the city (the people-friendly streets neighbourhood scheme). I had no idea they could move so fast. There was a thin attempt to present this as a way of stopping ‘rat runs’, but for the most part local government was touchingly honest: people will want to drive, as we recover from Covid, so we have to make every journey torture.