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"If you want to speed up traffic flow, then why note use the roads for what they were built for.... movement. Ban all on street parking on priority roads ... better still why not paint Red Lines like London. And then enforce the parking restrictions.

"As a regular bus user, I have seen that a majority of delays to bus services I use are due to illegal parking / private cars driving in bus lanes. Also why does Cardiff and Newport fail to maximise the central rail corridor (London - Swansea) or the industrial spurs off the central rail corridor/Valley lines?"

"Much debate, little sense, so far. Of 8 people working in my office section in Cardiff, 6 travel from outside and clock up over 290 miles per day (1450 per week) between them. Myself and one other who live in Cardiff clock up less than 16 miles daily between us. This is typical of all the office sections in the very large government building where I work. Extrapolate this and it is easy to see where the traffic jams come from.

"Or stand by the M4/A470 junction or the top of Caerphilly mountain and count the cars any rush hour. Why should I pay a congestion charge when the jams are caused by others? I already pay a premium to live in the city anyway."

"In the late sixties and early seventies, fuel was a minor amount of cost along with a very low level of car tax, (and we had much better road maintenance), than it is today, so where is all the money going to? Congestion charges are a means of local authorities being able to make up the slack from the shortfall the government have decreed to be the amount they will give from general taxation.

"Sooner or later the combination of the grey vote, coupled with the road user vote, will show the government (not just Labour) that we have been squeezed enough and the time has come to place the burden of cost where it rightly belongs, on those such as the oil companies that make such obscene profits especially when the oil cartel OPEC raises the price of crude."

"They wouldn't kill off the city centre if targeted at motorists who use the centre as a short cut to the the other side of Cardiff. Anyone with business in the city centre should not be penalised. Before any congestion charge is considered however, the local authority should introduce more parking restrictions in residential areas surrounding the city centre. Each working day about 270-300 vehicles are parked for 'free' in the Atlantic Wharf area - and I am not counting the cars parked in private residential spaces. More double-yellow lines and voucher parking please!"

"The charges will not be used to relieve traffic congestion, but to fill the coffers of the local council. We will look back in 5 years time and say where has the money gone."

"The roads were gridlocked between September last year and January this year. Traffic has increased every year for the past ten years and it's at its worst in the weeks running up to Christmas. I caught a taxi one morning in the rush hour to get from Birchgrove to Danescourt and the journey took over half an hour because of traffic jams. There were no road works along the route at all."

"Whilst I fully understand the concern over congestion on our roads, I think that some consideration needs to be given to those people who have to travel some distance to work through no fault of their own i.e. the business moved or their local office closed.

"It is these people that are petrified at the suggestion of traffic congestion charging, as they already use much of their income in travelling to work (car depreciation, tax, insurance diesel/petrol, Severn bridge tolls, car parking). Are there sufficient jobs locally? Even if yes, then do they pay as well as those else where.

"You will have guessed from the tone of this note, I comute to Bristol from Cardiff everyday."

"It could stop at three or four stops in the city, and would be beter than congestion charges which only benefit those that can afford it."

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"Let's give the government what they want and leave our cars at home. This way we can watch our economy grind to a halt, be an hour late for work every day, cripple our public transport by sheer weight of numbers and give the authorities a cut in income, leaving them with less money with which to maintain the roads for our buses. Of course we'll need many more buses and the noxious and carcinogenic diesel fumes that come with them. We'll also see a huge drop in car sales and we'll see extensive redundancies in the retail, insurance, manufacturing and advertising sectors of the car industry - not to mention the people who make their living repairing our cars, manufacturing replacement parts and providing a valuable recovery service to stranded motorists. With all these folded car companies, our doctors are going to find it hard to buy a car so they can make housecalls....not to mention the police who'll have to get the bus to a crime scene. It sounds far-fetched but so is the idea of people leaving their cars at home."

"It already costs me £5 a day petrol and £2 a day parking - that's if I'm lucky enough to get into Cardiff before 8am...that's £140 a month just to work in Cardiff. Public services - pah! they'll never improve, no matter how much investment there is. Buses never arrive on time, trains are cancelled or delayed daily - always in the rush hour. It's totally unfair to introduce congestion charges too."

"Congestion charges only serve to free up the roads for the people who can afford to pay the charges i.e. the rich. A fairer system would be park and ride, permit holders only in town."

"One day, parliament will learn that motorists are voters too. Without a suitable alternative to the car we are forced to drive everywhere. Congestion charging shouldn't be considered until we have a public transport system we can use and be proud of - and one that works all night as not all of us go to bed at 8pm."

"In theory the idea sounds fine, but what about people who live in the city centre? Where will they draw the boundary? I fear it could be as bad as city centre voucher parking, which goes all the way up Park Place by the university."

"I have recently been working in Reading and found their system excellent. Just off the M4 West of Reading (and there is a similar one on the East of Reading) there is a huge open air car park where you park for free and get a bus into the town centre - this costs £1 for a single, £2 return, or £8 for a card giving you 10 single journeys. The buses are brand new, clean, fast and run every six to eight minutes without fail, seven days a week. There is a similar service about every fifteen minutes from 8pm until late.

"The buses only pick up at the park and ride car parks and drop off at one or two stops in the town centre so it is a very fast journey. With this option I never once considered going through the hassle and expense of driving into the town centre. I'm sure that faced with this choice, perhaps at Cardiff Gate/Coryton/Culverhouse Cross many people would choose to avoid the jams, fight for parking spaces, and cost of driving right into the centre.

"Living outside a small village in the valleys I know that a considerable number of people just could not get anywhere - even to the nearest bus-stop or train station - without their cars, and can see that this option really is viable and could be very popular if run well."

"I feel that it is yet another way to push customers out of the city centre, and into out of town shopping villages. Why does the goverment help out of town developments ie reduced rent, rates etc etc and city centres get hammered ... If the city dies then Cardiff dies. Look after the city centre and help get people in."

"We don't have congestion charges here in LA, but parking is so hard to find that a driver is urged to find a familiar place on the outskirts, and then walk or bus it to his destination. This, of course does not lead to wandering around the town to discover new shops. So most shops are now in design plazas, where parking is available."

"I read that the congestion charge is being used to help pay towards four hundred million pounds worth of essential highway and road maintenance. Why isn't there any cash available from funds generated by road tax and increasing prices on petrol and diesel?"

"In Lugano there is a huge free car park on the perimeter of the City and a bus every 10 minutes where you can pay 70p for a further 90 minutes bus travel... When the climate is inclined to cause unacceptable pollution levels, all public transport is free in order to keep the traffic out of the Canton of Ticino.

"In Switzerland, the congestion charge could not be imposed without a referendum of the people as Switzerland is a Federal State. Who asked the people of Cardiff? I think people would be willing to pay £1 to enter Cardiff if there was a guarantee that the money would be used to reduce bus, regional rail and taxi fares, and not just disappear into a bottomless pit of local taxation.

"In Milan one can travel for 1.50 euros (£1) for 90 minutes changing from metro to tram to bus as required even returning to the outward point. Residents of New York rarely own a car and use public transport (including taxis) which is cheap and reliable."

"Until we have a frequent and reliable public transport system there is no alternative to the car. Even in Newport which is a city there is only an hourly service on most services after 1800 and next to no service on a Sunday. Couple that with very poor timekeeping, frequent cancellations and very high fares, then public transport is not an option.

"There needs to be a very dramatic improvement before people would consider going back to public transport. Most bus companies due to poor standards and management cannot even retain their existing customers who are increasingly given up on them."

"Pay to drive into Cardiff? They'd need to pay me! It's hardly proving popular in London, so what makes people think it'll work in Cardiff? Oh yes - Cardiff is a European capital."