We recently completed a poll in the Cambridge Foodies community to get an idea of what our members think of the Cambridge Congestion Charge proposal, by the GCP.

For those of you unaware, the congestion charge will be a penalty of £5 a day for using your car to access the city. The idea is for the charge to be used to fund better public transport and encourage people to use more sustainable ways of travel. It will also include people who already live in the city with a car, in other words, leaving your own driveway may result in a charge too. Blue badge holders will be exempt.

Now, we try and avoid politics in the Cambridge Foodies but the gravity of this issue is too big to ignore. With Cambridge being the beating heart of the Cambridgeshire foodie scene and a huge majority of people in Cambridgeshire to a ratio of 5-1 now living outside the city already, I thought it was important to see what people’s thoughts are on the issue, as most of us in the community will be affected. Especially since our community is nearly at 10,000 strong, meaning we can give a very large sample size.

In the poll, we split the questions into 5 categories. First, we divided people into two groups – the people living inside the city and people living outside the city boundaries.

We then divided it further and asked whether they felt that the congestion charge would result in them avoiding Cambridge for alternative places when dining out.

The 5th opinion was suggested by a member of our community and asks if the assumed effects of the congestion charge would encourage them to go into the city more often.

The results:

In total, 74% of the people in our poll do not live in the city. Only 17% of those people said that the congestion charge would not change their eating habits. Meaning that a staggering 83% of people who do not live in the city have said that they would likely look elsewhere for alternative places to eat. That’s 63% of people in the total poll.

A negligible 4% of the total people asked said that it would encourage them to travel into the city more often.

26% of the people who voted in our poll live within the city. 75% of those people said that this would not change their eating habits (or 15% of our total poll). 25% (or 5% in total) of people who live within the city have said that this would change their eating habits and they would look elsewhere to dine out.

In the past I have covered about the surrounding foodie hubs growing, which are already chipping away at Cambridge’s dominance (such as St Ives and Ely). Both of these are beautiful places, with free parking, with great places to eat. Businesses are already struggling and being described as “on their knees” by our members frequently. I wonder whether this could be the final nail in the coffin for some restaurants?

Summary:

• 74% of people in our poll live outside the city and 26% live within the city.

• 32% of people polled have said that the congestion charge would not affect their behaviour.

• 68% of people polled have said that they will look for alternative places to eat other than Cambridge if the congestion charge comes in under the current proposal.

• Opinions are divided by location, with people who live outside the city limits significantly more likely to change their behaviour due to the congestion charge and people who live within the city much more likely not to change.

• Only 4% of people said that the congestion charge would make them consider traveling into the city more frequently.

Reasons:

I decided you dig further and ask some questions to get an idea of what people were thinking. When discussing whether the funding for further public transport from the congestion charge would help people reconsider eating elsewhere, the most common responses were that a bus would take too long for them from where they live. I must admit, I was priced all the way out to Sutton and it is currently a 35-40 minute drive. I cannot imagine how long it would take me on a bus, especially since I would also need to change buses under current proposals pictured above. In fact, it looks as though that anyone in the fens is still going to need to rely on ‘rural buses’ on the first leg of their journey. For this to work in my neck of the woods we are going to need something with its own direct track like a railway line, light rail, or guided bus.

Another concern was that people are morally opposed to the idea and therefore would boycott Cambridge on principle. We are all aware of the repeated frustrations of the cost of parking in Cambridge and this only adds to it. Many people are on the fence about going into Cambridge already and it feels like this may be the final straw. People also feel like it’s a tax on being unable to afford to live in the city. A city they once called home. Making this (in their eyes) a regressive policy.

I wonder how many of these people are serious about this enough to actually go through with it? This just goes to show how angry this is making people and that it is likely going to take more than plonking on a few extra buses to mitigate these feelings.

Some have pointed out that other big cities across Europe have introduced this and despite some resistance at first, people gradually accepted the idea. Maybe this will be the case here?

Thoughts:

Either way, the results are very clear. People who aren’t lucky enough to live within the city are by far the largest demographic and are going to look elsewhere if the congestion charge comes into practice. A large majority of people within the city are not going to change their dining habits but are a smaller demographic.

This looks like this could be another example in the long list of cultural differences between real people and the ‘Cambridge bubble’ which only looks to divide us further. My heart goes out to restaurant owners at the current time, especially with so many great places to eat outside of the city these days.

What do you think? Let us know in the Cambridge Foodies.