Please can you tell me about plans for the extension of the ULEZ… Are you seriously telling me that TfL has not made a specific budget provision to set up the expanded ULEZ zone? If it has, I am looking to know the budget to procure and install all the necessary equipment for the newly extended ULEZ zone. What are the current costs and revenues of the scheme? Assuming the scheme is extended, what are the projected operating costs and revenues of the extended scheme? What are the infrastructure set up costs of implementing the extended scheme? Infrastructure would be all the equipment necessary to implement the ULEZ expansion. If it is using the same technology as for the congestion charging zone, it would include things like the installation of cameras and number plate recognition systems. If more staff are required to operate the extended zone, it would also include all staff and call centre set up costs. As a consequence of extending the scheme, a number of vehicles in London will be non-compliant by virtue of their age and specifications. Has TfL estimated how many such vehicles will be affected? If not why not? If TfL has estimated the number, what is it and how does it break down by different classes of vehicle, such as private cars, vans, taxis, etc? As many Londoners will find themselves with a vehicle which is suddenly too expensive to drive and probably extremely difficult to sell, except for scrap, what measures is TfL considering putting in place in order to mitigate the hardship that will be felt by the affected vehicle owners? If a non-compliant vehicle remains parked but not driven, will it be subject to the daily charge? For a vehicle owner with a non-compliant vehicle, how will TfL know if it is or is not driven within the extended ULEZ zone? If the answer to the above question is that the vehicle is caught moving on one or more of TfL’s mobile or fixed cameras, how many new mobile and how many new fixed cameras will be installed? How much money has so far been committed to acquiring all these cameras and associted infrastructure and what will the total sum be? If a new Mayor were elected who decided not to go ahead with the ULEZ extension, how much money would have been spent to date on preparing for the ULEZ extension that could not be saved by virtue of the election and how much money would be saved by immediate cancellation? Finally, please can you provide a numerical and a reasoned explanation for which vehicles are exempt from the ULEZ charge and which are not and on what basis? Is it exhaust emissions according to MOT test criteria or what?

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TfL Ref: 3657-1920

 

 Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 25 February 2020 and your clarification email of 11 March 2020 asking for information about expansion plans for the ULEZ.  

 Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations and our information access policy.

 

 I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. Your questions and our answers are as follows:

 

 What are the current costs and revenues of the scheme?

 

Details of the ULEZ expansion are available on our website at https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone/ulez-where-and-when?intcmp=52227#on-this-page-5 

Up to 2 February 2020 the revenue received was £139m and the operating costs were £51m. Revenue received for the year to date has been lower than predicted as a result of the emissions standard compliance rate on commencement and during the scheme being higher than expected.

 

 Assuming the scheme is extended, what are the projected operating costs and revenues of the extended scheme?  

Following a period of consultation between 30 November 2017 and 28 February 2018, the Mayor of London announced on 8 June 2018 that the ULEZ would be expanded up to the North and South Circular roads. Please see the following link for the consultation report: https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/environment/air-quality-consultation-phase-3b/?cid=airquality-consultation 

Since then TfL has been developing plans for the expanded scheme to launch in October 2021. Part of these plans include assessing what the likely compliance level will be when the scheme launches and what level of enforcement is required to facilitate the behaviour change needed to achieve the scheme benefits. As a result, we are only able to estimate the operating cost and operating income of the scheme because decisions such as the level of enforcement and factors such as the compliance rate will affect the scheme’s operating cost and associated income.  

The current planning assumption for the estimated operating costs in 2021/22 is £100m - £110m, whilst the estimated operational income for 2021/22 is £160m - £170m. These figures will be further refined as we move into the next stage of design.

 

 What are the infrastructure set up costs of implementing the extended scheme i.e. all the equipment necessary to implement the ULEZ expansion. If it is using the same technology as for the congestion charging zone, it would include things like the installation of cameras and number plate recognition systems. If more staff are required to operate the extended zone, it would also include all staff and call centre set up costs. 

Infrastructure set up costs of the expanded ULEZ zone are an estimated £100m to £120m. This includes signage, detection and enforcement infrastructure and infrastructure related to the operation of the scheme.

 

 As a consequence of extending the scheme, a number of vehicles in London will be non-compliant by virtue of their age and specifications. Has TfL estimated how many such vehicles will be affected? If not why not? If TfL has estimated the number, what is it and how does it break down by different classes of vehicle, such as private cars, vans, taxis, etc?  

TfL has estimated the numbers of vehicles affected by the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in 2021. Since many vehicles driving within the zone come from outside London, it is not simply an estimate based upon vehicles owned by residents. The estimate is made for an average day. The estimate is broken down into cars (including private hire vehicles) and vans (not exceeding 3.5 tonnes). Heavy vehicles (HGV, bus, coach) are not included because these are already included in estimates for the tightening of the Low Emission Zones (LEZ) standards in October 2020. Taxis are not included in the estimate because they are exempt from the ULEZ. This is because they are legally obliged to use a certain type of vehicle that is designed for London’s unique street network and fully accessible to wheelchair users. They are subject to separate TfL licensing requirements to address their emissions. From 1 January 2018, all newly licensed taxis had to be Zero Emission Capable (ZEC). We also recently took forward a phased reduction the vehicle age limit of taxis, reducing it from 15 to 12 years by 2022. 

Table 21 in the Supporting Information document to the public consultation on the tightening of the LEZ standards in October 2020 and expansion of the ULEZ to inner London in October 2021 contains our forecast of vehicle compliance with these standards. The document can be viewed here: https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/environment/air-quality-consultation-phase-3b/user_uploads/supporting-information-document-updated-12.12.17.pdf. For the ULEZ expansion in 2021, we forecast that 93 per cent of cars will be compliant and 72 per cent of vans. Table 14 and 15 show that we expect there to be 540,000 cars and 100,000 vans in the zone on an average day. This means there will be around 38,000 non-compliant cars and 28,000 non-compliant vans in the zone on an average day when the ULEZ expands.

 

 As many Londoners will find themselves with a vehicle which is suddenly too expensive to drive and probably extremely difficult to sell, except for scrap, what measures is TfL considering putting in place in order to mitigate the hardship that will be felt by the affected vehicle owners?  

The Mayor has launched two scrappage schemes which target funding at those most in need of financial support. The van scrappage scheme supports organisations with 50 or fewer employees, whilst the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) car and motorcycle scrappage scheme supports low income and disabled Londoners. The two schemes have a combined funding pot of £48m.  

To help micro-businesses, sole traders and charities prepare for the central London ULEZ, and its expansion in 2021, the Mayor launched the £23million van scrappage scheme in February 2019 which allows eligible applicants to scrap up to three older, more polluting vans and charity minibuses and switch to cleaner vehicles.  

Eligible applicants are entitled to a grant of £7,000 for the scrapping their vehicle if they are frequent operators within the zone, or if they are not, they have the option to scrap and purchase or lease a Euro 6 replacement. Alternatively, they can receive £9,500 towards the running costs of an electric vehicle if they scrap and replace with an electric light van or minibus. The Mayor has also announced that later in the year the scheme will be broadened to include heavy vehicles, including lorries, coaches and buses. 

In October 2019 the Mayor launched the ULEZ car and motorcycle scrappage scheme to help eligible low income and disabled households scrap older, more polluting vehicles. Eligible applicants can access £1,000 to scrap motorcycles or £2,000 to scrap cars that don’t meet the ULEZ emission standards. The Mayor continues to lobby the Government to fund a national scrappage scheme.

 

 If a non-compliant vehicle remains parked but not driven, will it be subject to the daily charge?  

No, only if driven in the zone.

 

 For a vehicle owner with a non-compliant vehicle, how will TfL know if it is or is not driven within the extended ULEZ zone?  

Vehicles are observed in the zone using our Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras.

 

 If the answer to the above question is that the vehicle is caught moving on one or more of TfL’s mobile or fixed cameras, how many new mobile and how many new fixed cameras will be installed? How much money has so far been committed to acquiring all these cameras and associated infrastructure and what will the total sum be?  

TfL reviewed a number of different enforcement options for ULEZ Expansion and decided that Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras (used for both mobile and fixed) would be the best option to enforce the scheme and facilitate the behaviour change to meet air quality benefits. TfL are currently assessing the optimal number of cameras, including the ratio between fixed and mobile cameras.

 

 If a new Mayor were elected who decided not to go ahead with the ULEZ extension, how much money would have been spent to date on preparing for the ULEZ extension that could not be saved by virtue of the election and how much money would be saved by immediate cancellation?  

As you will be aware, the Mayoral election due in May 2020 has been postponed. It was estimated, when the election was scheduled for May 2020, that an estimated £30m - £35m would have been spent by that point. If the scheme had been cancelled then an estimated £100m - £110m (dependent on scheme design) of costs would be avoided. However, there are likely to be costs associated with terminating our contractual agreements. These cannot be quantified at present as they would be the subject of subsequent contractual negotiations.

 

 Finally, please can you provide a numerical and a reasoned explanation for which vehicles are exempt from the ULEZ charge and which are not and on what basis? Is it exhaust emissions according to MOT test criteria or what? 

Full details of the ULEZ including the emission standards which must be met along with details of vehicles which are exempt is available on our website at www.tfl.gov.uk/ulez 

The ULEZ standard is based upon the exhaust emissions of each type of vehicle as declared by the vehicle manufacturer at the time of type-approval and documented on the vehicle’s V5C registration document. For light duty vehicles (cars and vans) the standard is 0.08g/km NOx for spark ignition (petrol) engines and 0.08 g/km NOx and 0.005g/km Particulate Matter for compression ignition (diesel) engines. This equates to Euro 4 for petrol and Euro 6 for diesel engines. For motorcycles the standard is 0.15 g/km NOx, which equates to Euro 3. Any vehicle meeting these standards does not need to pay to enter the ULEZ. These standards were selected because they are the lowest emissions standards currently available and, as such, will ensure we bring emissions within legal limits as soon as possible. In doing so we will significantly improve the health of all Londoners. These emissions standards, and the testing methodology bears no relationship to MOT testing, which is simply a ‘health check’ of the general function of the vehicle emissions controls. If a vehicle owner believes their vehicle to be compliant with the ULEZ standard despite our online vehicle checker showing otherwise then they are able to submit evidence of compliance to us. This includes a letter from the vehicle manufacturer’s homologation department stating the vehicle’s Euro standard or a conformity certificate.

 

 There are a small number of vehicle types that are exempt from meeting the ULEZ standards. These can be viewed here: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone/discounts-and-exemptions?intcmp=52218. 

 If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

 Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

 

 Yours sincerely

 

  Sara Thomas 

FOI Case Management Team 

General Counsel 

Transport for London 

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