Kien-k'ang congestion charge

The Kien-k'ang congestion charge is a fee paid by vehicle drivers to enter the urban part of Kien-k'ang within the Kien-k'ang Ring Road excluding the Superior Woods, on certain classes of motor vehicles between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., that is one hour before and after banks open and close. The fee payable depends on the class of vehicle entering, whether entering on a working day or holiday, and whether the vehicle qualifies for various kinds of exemptions based on its fuel efficiency.

History

Before the charge

The charge was in a long history of legislation that sought to regulate motor vehicles in Kien-k'ang, whose narrow and kinked streets emerged well before the advent of motor vehicles and thus did not enable easy driving. While the production and importation of cars was under strict control owing to petrol rationing since 1936, the end of rationing 1953 caused the number of cars to rise sharply, whereby major roads became extremely congested in but a few years. The opening of the Rak Motorway (now the M1) in 1950 enabled commuters from further north to come to Kien-k'ang by private motor, but congestion immediately became apparent when the traffic coming off the highway was required to merge onto the Great Rak Highway, which would bring them to the city-centre.

A test in 1970 by The Times of Kien-k'ang revealed that cars often travelled at less than 5 MPH on average traversing the city-centre. Such traffic conditions sparked strikes in some quarters and otherwise were heavily protested by all manner of road-users, not less the teamsters who collected pay by distance driven.

The sudden appearance of motor traffic also revealed related problems in the city's road infrasturcture, such as weak or narrow bridges, uncovered drains, and road surface subsidance. Many streets had unequal widths at different places, and others had sharp corners with no curvature. The narrowness of streets in Kien-k'ang was accentuated by buildings often built to the property line with no setback. There were but a few major roads, such as the Great Rak Highway and New West Road, with passable geometry and allowing vehicles to move quickly through the city. However, it was on such streets where congestion was usually the worst, and even the Mayor admitted the traffic was unconscionably poor when it took two hours to travel on road from Lik-men station to Tlang-qrum station, which were only three miles apart.

While the city ordered studies to improve traffic conditions, it was understood that substantial widening of streets was out of the question as they bordered commercial or residential properties. Indeed, public and private spaces on the street edge had already mingled for centuries buildings extending over the unused space above the street; land-owners were allowed to build over the street on the grounds that the covering benefited road-users by protecting them from the elements. This was a well-established right in Kien-k'ang and buttressed by the obligation to clean and light the part of the street one's property covered.

The first policies to alleviate traffic were not meant to reduce the number of cars but to increase the amount of "navigable road surface" by eliminating obstacles on the streets, such as parked cars and slower vehicles. Vehicles pulled by animals, which were but a rare anachronism by the 40s, and farm vehicles were banned on major streets in 1951, the grounds being they would not travel any slower if taking the minor streets. In 1955, the City banned goods deliveries by vehicles during rush hour, as they tended to stop in front of shops and block traffic. Most of Kien-k'ang's buildings did not have rear access wide enough for trucks.

Previously in 1955, it was proposed to convert the Great West Road's gardened medians into extra lanes, but this was rejected. In 1961, three large roundabouts on the Eastern Avenue were converted to intersections as they were notorious points of congestion and the site of many accidents, albeing causing locals to protest against the removal of landscaping in the roundabout. These roundabouts had existed since the 1870s but were not designed to accommodate traffic moving at any more than 5 – 8 MPH. The modification of roads was often strongly stigmatized by residents who lived on such roads and who believed sedate traffic was preferable. Such gardening, accompanying higher property values, were considered integral to the ambiance of the (usually wealthy) community. Thus the improvement of traffic at the expense of edifying landscaping often had undertones of social class.

By 1960, private motor vehicles were no longer associated with privilege and increasingly with slum clearances. As the motorway system was built mostly through rural areas, the government relocated statutory beneficiaries of slum clearances to communities built from scratch along the motorways, rather than established satellite towns already served by railways. The motivation was financial—places with convenient railway access were more expensive and likely to reject a slum relocation compared to virgin rural land served by a new motorway. Their transportation need was met with subsidized, cheap cars imported from abroad: given low petrol prices internationally, commuting by car was not necessarily any more expensive than by railway. This policy has been identified as a source of Kien-k'ang's traffic malaise since its inception, but the city council felt unable to hold the central government responsible since the latter financed the slum clearances.

Turning at various intersections was also banned as it blocked traffic behind, and intersections controlled by stop signs were converted to synchronized signal lights.

Following this, the City also ordained in 1962 that nowhere in the inner city was free vehicle parking to be offered during rush hour, even on private properties, except for the proprietor's own registered vehicle and commercial vehicles. This is often considered the first policy that implicitly curtailed car access, by imposing a mandatory fee on non-essential traffic. On the other hand, its imposition was also justified with the view of increasing road surface, since many street were thence cleared of parking and could accommodate an extra lane in either or both directions. This policy benefited travellers who simply wished to travel through the city without stopping and thus incurred no parking fee, as the recently-opened M2 terminated in western Prang-ku and required travellers who wished to access the M1 to drive through the city-centre.

Imposition

Following international examples of a congestion charge and a re-appraisal of congestion-related policies in place, the city and the central government reached an agreement to impose a charge for simply entering the city in 1983, tolled at 70 cents a day.

See also

• Themiclesia