A few weeks ago, I discussed the actual scientific evidence and facts whether ULEZ serves a purpose other than a money-grabbing scheme, fair to say that the evidence does point more at the latter statement. However, our dearly dishonest mayor Sadiq Khan has come under further question about “Project Detroit”.
A few weeks ago, Khan was questioned about his latest “speculated” project that the TFL aims to integrate a pay-per-mile methodology for road users within London. Although Khan openly stated in front of the panel that plans for such a charging scheme are “not on the table”. However, City Hall Conservatives are expressing concerns that the mayor (yet again) is not being honest about his “true intentions”. He later went on to say in a statement “What I said last year, and again in September, is that TfL keeps its schemes under review, that sometime in the future, smarter technology might be available to simplify the current schemes like congestion charge and Ulez. That being said, are we the public, needing to brace for the government taking away from of our money and independence by the eventual introduction of some sort of pay-per-mile scheme.
We are already aware of the steady introductions of the 15-minute city, which aims to banning or discouraging residents from going anywhere further than 15 minutes since all their basic human needs can be reached within that time period. My worry is we have physical evidence about Sadiq Khan’s blatant lies where a member of the panel Mr Fortune said that when the mayor was previously questioned in July 2021, he publicly stated he had “no plans to extend the Ulez to outer London”, before announcing such plans eight months later, in March 2022.
With the evidence laid out on the table its fair to assume that yet another money grabbing scheme will be established and embedded within London or even England, there have been a number of court cases arguing that the introduction of ULEZ is illegal and even some London Borough councils are still fighting and arguing over this, where some boroughs have gone as far as banning TFL from putting up ULEZ signs in their regions.
Under the Freedom of Information Act which Mr Fortune requested from TFL the document outlined that the project’s “significant milestones” is to develop a prototype for a distance-based journey estimation. Where now there are around 97 staff members working on said project, even though Khan said he had not heard of the project TFL’s response was “We are building a new core technology platform for road user charging to replace the currently outsourced system for which the contract expires in 2026. The project is named Detroit.” Yet again, either the mayor is blatantly misleading the public or he is ignorant and does not know what goes on within his place of work. Further findings also found “The Detroit platform has the capability to be extended and we will be looking to build the system flexibly so that other forms of charging based on distance, vehicle type, etc., could be catered for if a decision was made in future to do so.”
Given the evidence of what has been provided and found, it appears that there may possibly be an introduction of yet another money-grabbing scheme that penalises individuals when exploring the areas of London. From recent facts and figures crime in London has worsened and so have the living conditions, Mr Khan’s obvious negligence as his role of Mayor of London has shown how ignorant he is by prioritising money-grabbing schemes over the safety and welfare of the residents within Greater London. As such, it is our responsibility, as the public, to keep tabs and track what goes on under our noses; and to investigate the further develops and goings on in our cities. Only time will tell if something like this will be introduced within London and if it will see widespread deployment within other regions of the UK.
Sources:
https://www.gbnews.com/politics/sadiq-khan-ulez-motorists-pay-per-mile
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