Congestion charge returns to pre-pandemic operating times, but £15 charge remains

The London Congestion Charge has changed back to pre-pandemic weekday operating hours.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan previously changed the times in June 2020, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, extending the hours from 7am until 10pm. The charge was also increased to £15, following a government bailout of TfL.

Now the C-charge will revert to its previous operating times, from 7am until 6pm from Monday until Friday. It also applies from 12pm until 6pm on weekends and bank holidays. There is no charge between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day bank holiday.

The Mayor said an increase in traffic in the evenings is “to some extent, to be expected, as traffic is no longer disincentivised from driving in the congestion charge zone”.

He said: “What it was leading to was damage to the night-time economy, leading to jobs being lost, but also leading to our recovery not being as fast as it could have been.

“It’s really important for our policies to be pro-environment, pro-cleaning up our air and also pro-businesses. These are businesses, by the way, that pay their taxes that lead to us having some of the brilliant policies that we have, from more cycle lanes to widening the pavements, to investing in public transport.”

“If businesses go bust, if fewer people are working in our city, if there is more unemployment, it’s more difficult for us to provide the public transport system we want, but also it damages our economy.”

The congestion charge applies in central London, specifically the area bound by the A501, A4202, A302, A201, A100 and A1210. This includes all of Soho, Westminster, Marylebone, Farringdon, Fitzrovia, Clerkenwell, Waterloo and Mayfair.

All cars, including private hire vehicles, have to pay the £15 daily charge, unless they are zero-emissions vehicles (electric or hydrogen fuel cell. Black cabs are exempt, regardless of how dirty their powertrain, however.