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Sadiq Khan has said plans for such a charging scheme are “not on the table”, but City Hall Conservatives say they are concerned the mayor is not being honest about his “true intentions”.
Mr Khan said in September that as long as he is mayor, there will be no pay-per-mile system.
Transport for London (TfL) documents sourced by Tory assembly member Peter Fortune however refer to a scheme called ‘Project Detroit’, with its stated aims including the enabling of “forms of charging based on distance… if a decision was made in future to do so”.
Quizzed on the topic at Mayor’s Question Time, Mr Khan told Mr Fortune: “I’ve been crystal clear. A pay-per-mile scheme is not on the table and not on my agenda.
“What I said last year, and again in September, is that TfL keeps its schemes under review, that some time in the future, smarter technology might be available to simplify the current schemes like [the] congestion charge and Ulez [ultra low emission zone].
“In London, I won’t move the goalposts on Ulez emissions standards, and Londoners can be confident when they buy Ulez-compliant vehicles, that will remain the case.”
Mr Fortune pointed out that the mayor had previously said – in answer to a written question in July 2021 – that he had “no plans to extend the Ulez to outer London”, before announcing such plans eight months later, in March 2022.
The Conservative member, who represents Bexley and Bromley at City Hall, asked Mr Khan if he could give further detail on Project Detroit.
“I’m afraid I can’t, I don’t know what Project Detroit is,” the mayor replied.
Mr Fortune referred to a Freedom of Information response sent by TfL in December 2022, which explained that one of the project’s “significant milestones” is to “develop a prototype for a distance based journey estimation”.
The project is also said in the FOI…
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