Congestion Charge goes to £25 in October

there's somethign fishy about pushin out west, where there is a predominance of large private vehicle owners that will get out of having to pay the charge as they live in the vicinity.

residents don't get out of paying the charge. they get a 90% discount, which on the face of it is almost free, but the minimum charge is one week. So if you drive your car in the week (during charging hours) or if your car is kept on the public highway (true for most of K&C), then you have to pay £208 per year, per car.

In truth the congestion problem in west london is almost non-existant (compared to central london), so in effect it's a tax on the rich.

If and when they raise the congestion charge for higher polluting vehicles (4x4's), of course the tax will go up significantly.

the problem is that it's a bit shit for the people who now live on the new edge of the zone (e.g. fulham, wandsworth etc) as traffic accumulates between 1730-1830 just before the charge ends. And more traffic = more danger for cyclists.

I do agree that what the CC has done has created 2 segregated of congestion. But it's a counter intuitive and counterproductive action to extend the size of the zone. The larger the zone, the more traffic can freely flow within that zone. For example if the CC zone was all greater london, traffic would not be affected, other than for those people who sold their cards because they could not afford the tax.