Timing and London's Congestion Charging?

Quite a battle seems to be developing over attempts to expand London's Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) to include parts of Greater London. The current ULEZ requires most polluting cars and vans to pay £12.50 per day to enter. Heavy Goods Vehicles and buses pay £100/day. Number plate recognition is used to levy a hefty fine, on folk who fail to pay. London has a £110m vehicle scrappage scheme, for poorer folk, to sweeten the pill (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/04/battle-for-clean-air-row-over-london-ultra-low-emission-zone). There's no doubt that vehicular emissions (mainly nitrogen oxides and particulates) damage people's health, as well as reducing life expectancy. The damage to health is particularly bad in children. Many schools are sited near busy roads, with currently illegal air pollution levels. The current (Inner London) ULEZ, has greatly improved air quality in its area. There's also no doubt that a section of the folk objecting to the expansion of the ULEZ, are the 'usuals', who appear to care more about their 'freedoms' than human health/life chances. Having said all that, it isn't great timing, to attempt to introduce the scheme in the middle of a 'cost of living crisis'. It's appreciated that any scheme is limited by what is funded. It might, however, be more effective to attempt to persuade citizens to, where possible, switch to using public transport. London is in a much better position, to do this than most other UK cities. Provided electrically-powered transport has to be cheap, safe, clean, frequent and reliable. Schemes like this, with cards providing a month of unlimited travel, have proved very successful in Germany.