London Begins Parking Charges by Vehicle Emission Levels

Greg Hyde

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15th August 2018

Car parking charges will be set by the vehicle’s emission rating in a new system to be rolled out in the City of London.

The City of London Corporation has contracted RingGo, which makes apps enabling cashless parking charge payments, to implement a system dubbed the Emissions Based Parking (EBP).

EBP was first introduced in the borough of Richmond-upon-Thames, south-west London in 2009 and is being used across the capital but the Corporation says it’s the first local authority to introduce a range of charges based on emissions levels.

On its website, RingGo says the system’s aim “is to make people aware of their vehicle’s emissions and, where possible, encourage them to use more environmentally friendly vehicles”. A white paper produced by the company explains that under EBP “the most polluting vehicles can be charged the highest amount [and] those with low carbon emissions offered a discount on their parking as an incentive to individuals to move to less polluting vehicles”.

The system sees the driver send their vehicle’s registration details to the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) which cross-references with the vehicle’s emissions data and charges in one of seven emissions-based pricing bands.

Vehicles qualifying as ‘low emitters’ will be charged £4 ($5.07) per hour to park in the City while those classified as ‘high emitters’ will be charged £6.80 ($8.63) per hour. Any motorist still choosing to pay by cash at a parking meter will be charged the highest rate.

City of London Corporation planning and transportation committee chairman Chris Hayward says with the introduction of EBP, the authority hopes to encourage the purchase and usage of low-emitting vehicles. “We have seen other areas of London penalize [the] worst offenders such as diesel cars. We are taking this one step further by not only applying punitive measures for these worst offenders but by supporting and encouraging motorists to consider other modes of transport and switch to cleaner vehicles in the future.”

The Corporation says EBP is just part of a wave of smart technology solutions it’s introducing to encourage environmentally sound travel including 30 permanent charging points to be installed around the Barbican estate and the CityAir app that outlines low-pollution travel routes.