Attitudes to traffic-related issues in urban areas of the UK and the role of workplace parking charges

In the UK the Government currently perceives a levy on workplace parking to be a key ingredient of a package of measures designed to deal with congestion and traffic-related pollution in urban areas. Clearly a number of issues will require careful consideration before such a levy can be successfully introduced. This paper presents a summary of the findings of a national survey undertaken with respect to workplace parking charges. How seriously do the decision-makers and opinion formers perceive traffic-related issues (and in particular the health effects of road traffic) to be in the urban areas of the UK? and, how effective and acceptable is a levy on workplace parking likely to be when compared with other policy options as a means of dealing with traffic-related pollution? Ring fencing the revenue raised from workplace parking charge would appear to be an important issue, alongside the allocation of that revenue as a means of increasing acceptance. The paper considers the size of the levy to be charged in order to achieve a significant reduction in current workplace parking provision, and the case for exempting certain categories of user.