Congestion Charge "No" Vote

MCR voted to reject the TIF proposals today. A Facebook-based follow-up:

Status: Danny Bronco decries the Manchester electorate as cowards, ne'er-do-wells, and the architects of our downfall (so he does) 6:49pm
- 5 Comments

Danny Bronco at 6:58pm December 12
or just a shower of berts?

DTRMCR at 7:40pm December 12
Oh democracy, because of which the freedom to choose includes the freedom to make the wrong choice. Bah!

Buster FanClub at 9:53pm December 12
Another view is that those twats in power can tax *everyone* more if *everyone* wants a better public transport system. Some of us have no choice as to whether we drive to work or not. The congestion charge would have been yet another unfair stealth tax. I'm all for better public transport and cycle lanes etc, I'm not all for targeting one section of society to pay for it. That's just not fair. If we *all* want it, we must *all* pay for it.

Eoin Kearney at 10:04pm December 12
dry your eyes!

DTRMCR at 12:22am December 13
Everybody who cared about it voted, and the result is in. No recounts. No hanging chads. No change in the outcome. If it had gone through, it would have meant £2.7 billion pounds of investment in public transport over three years - roughly £2.5 million each day for that time. Without TIF the three year sum is more like £90 million. At the same time, some drivers would have paid up to £1,200 a year just to get to work. And the TIF plans were by no means perfect - some areas that were scheduled to receive improvements in public transport arguably didn't need them as much as other areas that were seeing much more modest plans. Does bus-heavy Didsbury need the tram more than Wigan needs a night bus? Probably not. It doesn't matter though, the people have chosen, as is their right. The people are free to choose, but they don't always make the right choice. The X-Factor single will be number one this Christmas.