Pretty much. For the benefit of anyone else reading who doesn't know London: The North/South Circular restrictions are actually a thing that will hit many fami

Pretty much. For the benefit of anyone else reading who doesn't know London: The North/South Circular restrictions are actually a thing that will hit many families, especially around the borders of the area, because it is actually a lot more convenient to drive around, there are some gaps in transport, it's more suburban, it's actually a more car-oriented part of the city, most streets will have cars lining both sides, etc. In 2021 this will happen and a non-negligible number of individuals will end up upgrading their cars (it probably won't cost them that much, a 500 quid car passes the bar). None of this stuff is really any sort of humanitarian disaster because it's all comfort/luxury stuff. It's nice to drive about there, useful, not essential though, and yeah, the 'barrier to entry' is basically not driving a shitbox. By contrast, "Central London" as defined by the inner ring road is an area that can be walked across in approximately an hour or cycled across in 20-30 mins, and has a bus stop on pretty much every street corner. It's plastered in traffic lights, it's difficult to even stop your car anywhere to pop into a corner shop without getting ticketed. At some point in the next few decades I can see a lot of it becoming "semi-pedestrianised" a bit like Krakow town center or something as attitudes change. This area will be covered in a few months time by the tax (it's already covered during business hours, it'll just be extended to 24/7). Realistically, in practice, it might mean the odd journey in on a Sunday will be replaced by parking just outside the zone and getting a bus in or something. The idea of it being a 'regressive tax' just doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Barely anyone will actually end up paying it at all because it's cheaper to just get a better car. It's more like a soft-ban.