Now add the problem of house building taking place with new couple and family households requiring 2+ cars. Councils are more than happy to make these new housing developments get built for all that lucrative Council Tax cash they'll recoup from the new households. The problem is, they've failed to invest in the transport infrastructure that is required to keep traffic flowing smoothly at busy times. Cue gridlock at busy times and it isn't going to get better. If anything, drivers are choosing to drive around the problem so the gridlock just spreads outward.
This is why you're seeing congestion charging and ultra low emission zones, they're an acknowledgement that the local authority failed to invest in the transport infrastructure and are now pricing the poorest off the roads in the hope they can reduce the number of cars. What it does is price the working class out of jobs and adds overheads to businesses who pass those costs onto consumers.
Now add the problem of house building taking place with new couple and family households requiring 2+ cars. Councils are more than happy to make these new housing developments get built for all that lucrative Council Tax cash they'll recoup from the new households. The problem is, they've failed to invest in the transport infrastructure that is required to keep traffic flowing smoothly at busy times. Cue gridlock at busy times and it isn't going to get better. If anything, drivers are choosing to drive around the problem so the gridlock just spreads outward.
This is why you're seeing congestion charging and ultra low emission zones, they're an acknowledgement that the local authority failed to invest in the transport infrastructure and are now pricing the poorest off the roads in the hope they can reduce the number of cars. What it does is price the working class out of jobs and adds overheads to businesses who pass those costs onto consumers.