Under the draft Local Transport Bill, for which consultation closes on September 7, the DfT is quick to add that "no decision has yet been taken on whether or not to introduce a national road pricing scheme".
The DfT pledges funding from the Transport Innovation Fund from 2008 for schemes in England "that combine demand management, including road pricing, with improvements to local transport.
The DfT says local authorities have always had the authority to trial schemes but two key
differences relate to "revenue and interoperability". Any revenue generated from road pricing schemes must now be spent on transport permanently, as opposed to the spending freedom after ten years that previously applied.
The bill also considers ideas of a single piece of payment technology compatible with any local scheme, or a single account for motorists to cover all their "interactions" with particular schemes.
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