Cardiff council is proposing to charge non-residents £2 to drive into the city centre and use the proceeds to improve the creaking public transport system in and around the Welsh capital.

Council leaders and public health experts are arguing that a relatively modest congestion charge could help change perceptions of driving without overly penalising those who need to travel by car. The idea was outlined during the unveiling of a £2bn “transport vision” in Cardiff city centre on Wednesday.

Leaders said the 10-year plan would help to tackle the climate emergency, reduce congestion and improve air quality. They claimed imposing a charge on motorists could lead to the same sea change that followed the introduction of charges for single-use plastic bags.

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The council leader, Labour’s Huw Thomas, said: “The future success of Cardiff hinges on getting transport right in the city. There can’t be anyone who is happy with the current state of affairs, which is why we are bringing forward this ambitious 10-year vision and why we are beginning an honest conversation about how it’s paid for.”

Asked if a £2 charge was enough to change behaviour, Thomas said such a charge would break habits and generate significant funding for transport changes without penalising people too much. The council said it would not introduce charges before improvements had been made to public transport, and anticipated that there would be exemptions – for blue badge holders, for example.

Cardiff Council (@cardiffcouncil) 1.Our vision for #Cardiff is a city linked by the infrastructure needed to travel by bike, train and rapid bus transport around and across it, and on into the wider city region – it looks like this.#10ThingsAboutCardiffTransport2030



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Caro Wild, the council’s cabinet member for strategic planning and transport, said Stockholm had introduced a modestly priced congestion charge that had successfully changed behaviour.

The Labour councillor said: “Cardiff’s current transport network was designed half a century ago for a city of 200,000 people. Today, once commuters, shoppers and visitors are taken into account, our city has a daily population of almost half a million. No wonder our transport network is creaking – it’s no longer fit for purpose.

“If you look at it from the point of view of the average Cardiff resident driving within the city to work every day, struggling for their bit of road space with the 80,000 other car commuters from outside the city’s boundaries, then absolutely, traffic congestion, traffic pollution and a public transport system which struggles to adequately serve the people who live and work here are all issues of major concern.

“We are living in a world where the climate emergency is changing how we feel about our future. I have become more and more convinced that to undertake the kind of radical change required we will need to investigate bringing in some form of charging mechanism to fund the infrastructure required in the city and the wider region.

“One option might be a simple, universal, £2, low-charging system applied to non-Cardiff residents who drive into the city, which could reduce congestion while raising money towards paying for improvements to our transport network. We need to get people out of cars and on to public transport. To do that we need to give them the best public transport options. And to do that we need to raise money to pay for them.”

Wild said a congestion charge was not the only option and other possibilities would be looked at over the next year. He said: “No charge will be put in place until that business case is completed and all options have been reviewed.”

The white paper unveiled by the council lists a series of projects that could revolutionise public transport options in Cardiff and the region, including:

Opening up new tram/train routes and stations.

Introducing new park-and-ride sites.

Lowering the cost of bus travel significantly.

Delivering safer walking and cycling routes.

An electric bike pilot scheme.

Fiona Kinghorn, the executive director of public health for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, said: “We fully support the ambition to increase walking and cycling in Cardiff, provide major enhancements to the public transport network and reduce harmful air pollution.”