I have a crappy old petrol car because it makes economic sense for me to do so. It's sometimes cheaper than public transport, sometimes not, but overall I have it because it has a lower TCO than a less polluting vehicle would.
"It's a regressive tax" is a flawed appeal to emotion because poor people don't really have cars. Really poor people don't even have parking spaces because they're in unregistered flatshares or whatever and they can't get a permit.
Zone 1 driving is a leisure activity. It really is. I love it - I do it, it's gorgeous to bomb it down the river or wave to tourists at Harrods. But the idea that large numbers of individuals will suffer in an economic sense by restricting it is just bonkers, it's trivially disprovable by living here for about a week and trying to drive about and park with a car.
My car which cost about 300 quid is _still_ within the ULEZ recommendations. It's really not an issue at all.
You say it yourself it has become a tourist area, so my point stands. Anyway, last time I visited London (which was 10 years ago though) I was pleasantly surprised that there were still some 1960s brutalist blocks left in the downtown area which were housing “poorer” people (I think I remember seeing one close to Kensington). But I think many of them have been taken down in the meantime (or have burned to the ground because of official negligence).
The solution would be to create new downtown areas close to the places where the poorer people live, meaning areas with cinemas, theaters, libraries etc and leave the current downtown area for tourists, rich people and foreigners who want to launder their money.
Kensington is well outside of the central congestion zone (the western extension was scrapped ages ago).
That said, you seem to have a weird obsession with driving.
I can afford it and I don't drive into London because it just doesn't make sense. I've done it. Drive in to the West End, takes me way longer than cycling or taking a bus/tube, and then.... oh, it's going to take me 15 minutes to even find a parking spot.
It's more of a hobbyist/enthusiast thing. It's fun. I sometimes do it because one day you just know it won't be allowed any more.
I've lived centrally before and probably will again at some point. I'd sell the car, because it'd be pointless. Not because of cost, but because the only journeys that would make more sense to do by car are massive supermarket runs and country getaways.
Everything else is faster, quicker, and less stressful via public transport in London.
London is plenty big enough that places far away from the center already have cinemas, theatres and libraries.
London is not one city that grew. It's not even two cities that grew (London and Westminster). It's tens of towns, plus hundreds of villages, sometimes very old and now grown together, sometimes planned in the 19th or 20th century and now part of the greater city.
I was getting the impression you don't know London very well. Zone one has many tourists and also the government, the world's largest financial centre (well part of it) and many residents, rail stations, museums, hospitals, universities and all sorts of stuff.
I have a crappy old petrol car because it makes economic sense for me to do so. It's sometimes cheaper than public transport, sometimes not, but overall I have it because it has a lower TCO than a less polluting vehicle would.
"It's a regressive tax" is a flawed appeal to emotion because poor people don't really have cars. Really poor people don't even have parking spaces because they're in unregistered flatshares or whatever and they can't get a permit.
Zone 1 driving is a leisure activity. It really is. I love it - I do it, it's gorgeous to bomb it down the river or wave to tourists at Harrods. But the idea that large numbers of individuals will suffer in an economic sense by restricting it is just bonkers, it's trivially disprovable by living here for about a week and trying to drive about and park with a car.
My car which cost about 300 quid is _still_ within the ULEZ recommendations. It's really not an issue at all.