TfL should stop minicab congestion charge exemption says watchdog

The official travel watchdog for London has called for a stop to the congestion charge exemption given to minicabs in the capital.

London TravelWatch has said it is "unacceptable" for Transport for London to support plans maintaining slower bus journeys and have come up with several ways to help improve journey times around London. 

The proposals include increasing the hours of operation on Red Routes, increasing congestion charge operating hours and the key one, removing private hire vehicle congestion charge exemption. 

Arthur Leathley, Chair of London TravelWatch said “Over the last few years there has been an unprecedented drop in bus passenger numbers linked to declining bus speeds. Despite this, TfL’s newly approved Business Plan is forecasting slow speeds for the next five years. This is unacceptable.” He added “We will be writing to the Transport Commissioner to demand that much more action is taken by TfL to improve the performance of bus services in London and get their speeds back up to at least the level they were in 2013/14. We have previously suggested a number of measures that could be implemented, some of them can be done very quickly and simply to improve bus speeds.”