Car sharing schemes could be the answer

Paul has to spend �6 a day on parking charges near his office.

The congestion charge would be �3 there and back.

There would be a reduction in petrol costs of �6 a month.

Paul would save about 10 minutes a day on average and there would be fewer really bad journeys when the traffic gets heavily clogged up.

Over a year Paul pays �675 in congestion charges, offset by a �66 fall in fuel tax on his commuting journey but he and his wife save around �100 through reduced fuel costs for leisure journeys.

Paul is now paying �500 a year more. But with the improved journey conditions he finds his car commute much less stressful and saves about five working days a year that would otherwise be spent sitting in traffic jams.

Having had their first child, Paul's wife Sarah decides to give up work.

As money is tighter, Paul decides instead to use the Metrolink light rail system to get to work.

He gets an annual ticket costing �832, but saves �625 in car running costs, �1,320 in parking charges, and the �675 congestion charges.

Overall he is �1,840 better off.

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'Louise'

Louise, an IT consultant, makes a 95 mile journey, mainly along the M1 motorway, from Rugby to Sheffield every Monday morning.

She sets off at about 8am to travel to the regular team meeting.

Floods should be the only thing to delay drivers

The motorway is quite congested, and she incurs a congestion charge of �7, partly offset by �1.40 reduction in fuel duty.

The average journey time is reduced by a small amount, but the journey time is now much more predictable because the motorway is less prone to extremely heavy traffic and serious breakdowns.

Consequently the meeting can now start 30 minutes earlier and she can still be confident of arriving on time.

The journey to her first client is not quite so congested but there is a charge of �4.50, with �1.40 saving in fuel duty.

She makes the journey 40 times a year and pays an extra �350, but saves more than three working days a year on the road.

Since Louise charges her clients �100 per hour, she is able to generate �2,400 extra income for her company a year.

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