The Greater Manchester congestion charge was part of a bid to the Government's Transport Innovation Fund for a £3-billion package of transport funding and the introduction of a road congestion charge for Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county in North West England.[1][2] In 2008, two cordons were proposed—the outer encircling the main urban core of the Greater Manchester Urban Area and the inner covered Manchester city centre.[3] The Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund was rejected by a referendum on 12 December 2008.[4]
The proposed charge was to help pay for improvements in public transport, with £3 billion in the form of a grant and loan,[5][6] in particular for the Manchester Metrolink expansion,[7] and to reduce congestion in Greater Manchester.