Hacker News Reader

Comment by tomatocracy | Hacker News Reader

The main people who will be impacted by this are tradesmen. You can't take a van full of tools and materials and a ladder on public transport or a bike.

This will be passed through to householders in the form of higher prices and fewer tradesmen available to work when needed - on fact this is already a problem in London and will contribute further to rent inflation. It's crazy in my view to do this without a scheme to support replacement of older vehicles which would enable people to switch to newer less polluting vehicles in a much more cost neutral way.

Those higher costs will hit those least able to afford them most so I agree it is regressive.

View on HN

Any diesel van that is Euro 6 compliant won’t need to pay this, which covers any van made since late 2016. Petrol vans made since 2006 are all compliant with the ULEZ and don’t need to pay either. It’s only older, more polluting, vans that will need to pay it

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone/van...

Humans hugely undervalue their time. £12.50 per day is a bargain for a tradesperson if it means they can do more work because they’re spending less time idling in traffic jams.

Modern vehicles which in my experience most tradespeople drive aren't affected either.

> It's crazy in my view to do this without a scheme to support replacement of older vehicles

Good news - FTA:

> A £110 million scrappage scheme has also been announced, to allow those living within the expanded ULEZ to get money towards a compliant car. Van owners will be allowed to use the cash to retrofit their vehicles to make them compliant.

Fwiw I've seen plenty of tradesmen on cargo bikes in my city lately. Also makes it easier to get their tools in, can park right outside the door instead of wasting 15 minutes looking for parking for every customer. Not all tradesmen need a full car of tools for every project.

It's £12.50 per day.

I'm sure they can manage.

Typical tradesman rates are 250-300/day. So if they can't pass it through, it's a 4-5% pay cut. If you can accept work outside London without that pay cut, why would you continue to work in London?

So it will likely end up being passed through, which means it has an inflationary impact of 4-5% on day rates (which are going up already due to broader inflation), which in turn squeezes customers (especially households) further. It's poor timing for such a policy when inflation is already squeezing households significantly.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com