
London Ultra Low Emission Zone cuts toxic air pollution by a third - sails
https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/ulez-reduces-polluting-cars-by-13500-every-day
======
tim333
As a ULEZ resident, very good, onward and upwards. I hope city centre traffic
will go all electric one day.

Incidentally I got a proposal to vote on the other day proposing changing Park
Lane southbound into park land with cafes which I think would be nice.
([https://www.westminster.gov.uk/sites/default/files/mayfair_n...](https://www.westminster.gov.uk/sites/default/files/mayfair_neighbourhood_plan_compressed_version.pdf)
p32)

~~~
johnnycab
>Incidentally I got a proposal to vote on the other day proposing changing
Park Lane southbound into park land with cafes which I think would be nice.

It is unlikely to be happen due to the 'solutions' proposed in section 3.3.10
through to 3.3.13 (pg33). Which states that there is no will to implement any
measures on this part of the thoroughfare by the incumbent landowners ─ any
attempts to do so, have been thwarted for more than a century. The well heeled
clientèle, do not particularly need a bohemian cafe culture at the doorstep
nor do they care about pedestrians, especially when they arrive at the
affluent hotels/hedge fund offices/ ballrooms/casinos, in their luxury
automobiles to work & play. The addition of having access to exclusive
shopping districts, restaurants, entertainment within spitting distance in any
direction, further erodes any case for pedestrianisation.

However, there is a good case for lowering speed limit, modernising the subway
access and creating more ways to cross between the central reservation, across
to Hyde Park.

~~~
dwoozle
You don’t need to give incumbent landowners a veto over development. That’s a
choice, and one that can be made differently.

~~~
vuln
I must be misunderstanding your comment. Are you advocating for the government
to take a land owner’s property without any recourse? The land owner is given
no choice in the matter? Seems awful.

~~~
ItsDeathball
Even if the subject weren't publicly owned land, the implication would be the
opposite, that landowners should control their own land and not everything
around it that doesn't belong to them.

------
jeffwass
This is a good start but needs to go further.

There are plans to extend the ULEZ all the way to the North and South Circular
ring roads, which will really make an impact. But won’t happen until Oct 2021.

Hopefully the good results here may help them push this date forward.

~~~
jeffwass
I seriously don’t understand why this post has been modded down, currently at
-1. Seems inline with the rest of the anti-pollution sentiment on this thread.

Here’s info on ULEZ Phase 2 Expansion, which I really want to see implemented
: [https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/ultra-
low-e...](https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/ultra-low-emission-
zone-to-expand)

------
jon889
I wish cars were banned from most back streets in central London, it's really
not necessary to have every small road accessible by car. The only exception
is unloading/loading at commercial places but that should only be at certain
times.

~~~
epanchin
Not necessary for the fully abled.

~~~
learnstats2
This is an important point but it's hardly that Central London is accessible
to disabled people today.

Cities that get this right have good adaptations for disabled travellers -
generally by permitting them as exceptional traffic (and not through traffic).

Plus, for example, door-to-door bike lanes are also good for powerchairs. You
will see a lot more wheelchair users getting about anywhere in the Netherlands
than you do anywhere in the UK.

------
rbradford
I just finished "Clearing the Air" by Tim Smedley
([https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/book-
prizes/s...](https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/book-
prizes/science-book-prize/2019/clearing-the-air/)) which was shortlisted for
the Royal Society's prize for science books.

The first half of the book covers some of the chemistry of air pollution along
with a review of the impact that this can have on health (particularly scary
is the discovery that PM0.1 can be found in the blood and may be attributed to
cardiovascular disease). Later chapters then talk about how air pollution has
been addressed in different places and finally there is some guidance on what
you can do reduce your exposure.

I discovered this book from one of the episodes of Inside Science featuring
the shortlisted books: it's still up if you want to listen yourself:
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008jf1](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008jf1)

------
chillydawg
Life saving regulation. As a denizen of that zone - my office is on the Euston
Road which is awful for pollution - I appreciate this a lot.

~~~
easytiger
Euston road isn't even subject to the congestion charge. Only side roads are.

Furthermore the vast majority of traffic circulating in C. London traffic all
day are busses, Taxies, phvs and commercial vehicles. Not private vehicles.

There is nothing in that note which indicates how, when they came to these
conclusions. It's pretty much impossible for the headline claim to be true as
a result of the ulez.

Where is the supporting collateral? This is political grandstanding.

~~~
cjrp
> Furthermore the vast majority of traffic circulating in C. London traffic
> all day are busses, Taxies, phvs and commercial vehicles. Not private
> vehicles.

Isn't that proof that the Congestion/ULEZ charges are working effectively?

~~~
easytiger
It has been that way for a decade.

They are saying over a recent six month period that that this ulez has reduced
something by 33%. That's pretty much impossible as private vehicles largely
affected by this ulez program are a fraction of the circulating traffic (which
are vastly more pollution/no2 producing vehicles.

~~~
lorenzhs
ULEZ does not only affect private vehicles, the list of who qualifies for a
discount or exemption is pretty short (residents are exempt for now, taxis,
historic vehicles, and things like agricultural and military vehicles or
excavators, mobile cranes): [https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-
emission-zone/dis...](https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-
zone/discounts-and-exemptions)

According to the report, only 9% of all vehicles were exempt (38% of non-
compliant vehicles, which were 23.2% of all vehicles in September). Everyone
else either pays the charge (£100 per day for lorries, buses, and coaches),
incurs a penalty, or upgrades their vehicles.

~~~
easytiger
Sorry, wasn't suggesting commercial vehicles were exempt, but that the ulez
doesn't mean they won't make the trip.

~~~
ceejayoz
It might mean the next commercial vehicle that company buys meets the European
emissions standards, though.

~~~
easytiger
It might indeed.

But that doesn't make the headline claim true

~~~
tomgp
Looking at the report I don't really understand where your scepticism comes
from there really does appear to have been a 36% reduction in NO2 readings
over the period under consideration, an acceleration of an existing trend
which the authors take into account in their modelling. They acknowledge the
need for further monitoring to confirm that it's not an anomaly but given the
existing readings it seems like the press release is making a reasonable
representation of the science given the constraints of the format.

------
pro_zac
For those not familiar, here's a map of the ULEZ.
[https://www.ulezchecker.com/ulez-zone-map-
london/](https://www.ulezchecker.com/ulez-zone-map-london/)

------
safgasCVS
Great piece of legislation. London’s air is famously bad and this is great
start but there is still a long way to go as the air is still awful

------
Masterkraft
What about Black cabs? Most polluting cars have pref treatment

~~~
harg
It's a disgrace that black cabs are allowed the exemptions they currently
receive (bus lanes, ULEZ, congestion charge, waiting on double lines etc).
They're an incredibly inefficient form of transport used almost exclusively by
tourists and the wealthy and the non-PHEV are some of the most polluting
vehicles on the road.

The black cab lobby enjoys a disproportionate amount of power when it comes to
policy-making on transport. Most Londoners would not miss them if black cabs
disappeared overnight but somehow huge allowances are made to ensure they
continue to operate the way they do, often at the expense of everyone else.

~~~
sails
I agree entirely.

> bus lanes

This exemption is completely ridiculous.

I recently asked "What would the outcome be of a total taxi ban in a major
city" in a similar thread [0]. An interesting answer was the disabled would
struggle. I've since discovered Dial-a-Ride [1], which is good to see and now
strengthens my convictions against black cabs in London.

[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21268807](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21268807)
[1] [https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/dial-a-ride/](https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/dial-a-
ride/)

~~~
edf13
For business use alone - public transport just isn’t up to the task without
taxis. I know London we’ll for example and can get around for meetings mostly
by tube but sometimes a taxi is a must... foreign visitors mainly rely on
taxis for meeting appointments

------
growlist
Wondering if those active filters I've seen in the past might be an idea -
isn't it the case that exhaust pollution is only half of emissions, with the
rest coming from brakes and tyres?

The US was right to be suspicious of diesel.

~~~
MisterTea
The US wasn't suspicious of Diesel. People here associated them with being too
dirty, noisey and high vibration. They didn't want to drive something that ran
like a truck or bus. Of course this was in the 70's/80's when there were
barely any emission controls and engines were all mechanically controlled.
Unfortunately that image stuck with them well into the "clean" diesel era.
Shame as my friend had a diesel Passat with manual transmission and it was
amazing on fuel and fun to drive.

~~~
growlist
Try following a diesel versus a petrol as a cyclist. There are estimates that
the push for diesel is directly responsible for tens of thousands of excess
deaths in the UK, for example.

~~~
MisterTea
Are you referring to a modern clean diesel with DPF/SCR or the old mechanical
smoke belching rattlers? My friends Passat was a 2009 model I believe.

~~~
mikestew
_Are you referring to a modern clean diesel..._

"...or my friend's 2009 VW?" When speaking of emissions output, I find it
amusing that your anecdata involves a Volkswagen diesel.

------
Havoc
Good. London air is shockingly bad at times. I live much further out with good
air and randomly decided to go jogging while in London. Somehow jogging makes
the fumes much more noticable

~~~
growlist
Try cycling on Marylebone Road for a real choker!

------
willvarfar
I recall working in central London in the 90s and having black snot all the
time. Where is it now on the snottogram-scale?

~~~
mattlondon
I think the blacksnot is mainly the tube more than anything.

That said it is much better these days than it was perhaps 8-10 years ago in
my experience. TfL have started doing some more involved cleaning at night I
think - something like magnetic dusting and regular industrial vacuuming to
try and control the dust.

~~~
tonyedgecombe
The Northern line was always bad for that, someone told me it was because they
used to run steam trains on it.

~~~
pmyteh
Steam trains ran on the Metropolitan and District railways, which have a
larger loading gauge. The Northern, and the other deep tubes like the Central
and Bakerloo, have always been electric.

The tunnels are also regularly cleaned; I doubt there's much if any Victorian
steam train grot still floating around.

------
tito
A startup called Purple Air has a great map of air quality around the world.
It's based on their distributed air sensors:

[https://www.purpleair.com/map](https://www.purpleair.com/map)

------
bananapear
Popular methods of representing pollution levels sometimes display data in
“equivalent number of cigarettes smoked”, but what about actual cigarette
smoke?

There’s an interesting difference between actual pollution levels and what is
perceptible. You can’t as easily detect the odour of nitrogen dioxide or micro
particles from brakes.

I imagine cigarette smoke accounts for very little pollution measured by
typical methods, but walking down a busy street in London you’re likely to
pass through dense clouds of it every few meters. I wonder how much difference
this concentrated method of delivery makes to the effective toxicity.

~~~
dylan604
This sounds like a perfect place for a hacker piece of art to mount to lamp
posts that has air quality sensors and displays some sort of LED art
signifying the pollution levels. Skull&crossbones, puking emoji, SARs mask
emoji, sunshine & roses, etc.

------
aries1980
It is a shame this is not applied to the oldie diesel trains. I often see a
9-carriage train that each has its own engine running idle at a crowded
station. Having 15 platforms as at London Bridge Station, provides a decent
concentrated dose straight to the lungs.

[https://www.londonair.org.uk/london/reports/KCL_Air_pollutio...](https://www.londonair.org.uk/london/reports/KCL_Air_pollution_emissions_from_diesel_trains_in_London.pdf)

------
flyGuyOnTheSly
I've been spending less and less time out during rush hour in my city, and
it's gotten to the point that just standing near a car with it's engine
running for a few minutes can really make me feel... "off".

Not sick or anything, just a kind of "my body knows that breathing these fumes
is not a good thing".

It makes me wonder how I didn't even notice it for so many decades.

But absolutely, we need to get smog out of the places where people spend the
majority of their days, if only for an improved quality of life.

------
thinkpad20
As a Chicago resident worried about the terrible air quality here, this gives
me some hope that things can be improved if the political will can be
mustered.

------
acd
Glad to hear it has decreased. Nox emissions are mainly from diesel cars which
where sold as clean diesel but where dirty. Hopefully hybrid and electric
vehicles will decrease air pollution a lot more. Also car free city centers
are a real possibility.

------
bartwe
Cool, now close London City Airport for some serious noise pollution
reduction.

~~~
jeffwass
Heathrow has higher flight density, no 3rd runway.

The real issue is that they put east-west airport runways due east/west of the
centroid of population. It’s almost as if they wanted the airports to
maximally affect as many Londoners as possible.

~~~
short_sells_poo
This is something I don't understand. There must be a sane reason, right?

I mean, they can't be so bloody stupid to have put the biggest airport in
Europe on the western outskirts of a city and then have made a major landing
strip come in from the east.

To your point, airplanes coming in basically bathe the entire city east to
west in noise.

------
aries1980
Why this is only applied to the very central of London? (Even the Tower Bridge
is not covered.) Why is it allowed to pollute the streets where people
actually live?

------
WatchDog
> Polluting vehicles account for around half of London’s harmful NOx air
> emissions, with air pollution costing the capital up to £3.7 billion every
> year

Where does this 3.7 billion figure come from?

~~~
overcast
Maintenance, cleaning, healthcare estimates I'm guessing?

------
lordnacho
So there's less pollution in the zone, but do we know whether it's simply
moved to outside the zone? We want to have less pollution, not just spread out
pollution.

~~~
colinhowe
> Report on first six months of scheme confirms no increase in pollution
> around the ULEZ boundary

------
alex_duf
No mention of PM10 or PM2.5 and I'm wondering why

------
swebs
>Polluting vehicles account for around half of London’s harmful NOx air
emissions

What's the other half coming from?

~~~
sjg007
Trains. Business.

~~~
willyt
Construction machinery, Busses, Gas heating boilers? Probably not trains, only
a few long distance trains out of Paddington and St Pancras are still diesel
powered.

~~~
leoedin
There's diesel trains running out of Kings Cross, Euston, Marylebone and
Waterloo as well. They're definitely the minority of train services overall,
but there's still a lot of them.

~~~
epanchin
I used to walk alongside Euston to go to work. The air quality was noticeably
bad, and you could feel the heat from the consistently running Diesel engines.
It’s upsetting they don’t power down while parked.

------
edf13
Going all electric is all good and we’ll but it in effect just pushing the
pollution out somewhere else... that issue still has to be solved. Electricity
doesn’t grow on trees

~~~
movedx
Well no, but getting to the point you've missed: I'd rather that pollution be
elsewhere versus in a city centre with eight million people in it.

~~~
edf13
I think your missing the point of pollution - check global warming

~~~
frio
It's twofold.

1\. breathing polluted air sucks, and we can improve that by replacing gas
vehicles with electric vehicles.

2\. global warming is awful, and we can improve that by replacing our
generation activity (solar, wind, hydro, nuclear) -- but if we replace it all
and there's still lots of gas cars on the road, we've still got a problem.

Electric cars are part of solving both problems, although in all honesty, we
probably need to accept a lower standard of living, ditching the private car,
switch to e-bikes, e-scooters et all and have a robust car hire scheme for
when vehicles _are_ necessary,

