London's traffic tax paying off

2003-08-17 11:39

London - Six months after its launch, London mayor Ken Livingstone's "congestion charge", an ambitious plan to cut the British capital's notorious traffic jams, has been hailed as a success by its supporters.

"It's still early days, but so far it has reduced congestion by 32%, so we're pleased it's achieving what it ought to do and even a bit more", said Ruth Excell, a spokesperson for Transport for London, the body responsible for transport in the capital.

Under the charging scheme, launched exactly half a year ago on Sunday, it costs motorists £5 to drive into central London.

While 550 000 motorists fork out for the traffic tax every week, according to Livingstone, the scheme has cut traffic by 16%.

That figure is a welcome "revolution for London", according to Andrew Davis, director of Britain's Environmental Transport Association (ETA).

"The principle is excellent. We were very keen for years on this to happen. This plan should be put on a national scale," Davis said.

"It is a very good step forward to tackle the increase in pollution and climate change."

London's congestion charge must be paid by drivers entering the heart of the British capital, a zone of 20 sq km from Victoria station to the west to Tower Bridge to the east, and from King's Cross to the north to Elephant and Castle to the south.

Automatic

Feeding information into a central database, a network of hundreds of cameras monitors vehicles entering the zone.

The pictures are fed to automatic number plate recognition software, which compares the car registration numbers spotted in the zone with a database of vehicles which have paid their congestion charge for that day.

Some 30 000 fines of up to £80 are handed out each week to those who have neglected to pay up.

The system is not without its critics.

Tests have shown that the cameras do not read all number plates accurately - "more than 90%" is the figure mentioned by Transport for London on its website.

"The system is beleaguered with problems," according to Rebecca Rees, spokesperson for Britain's Automobile Association.

"Some people are not paying and getting away with it, some people are paying and getting fined because of a mistake.

"I recently spoke to a lady who had never driven in London and received 16 fines," Rees said.

Meanwhile, small businesses and those who make deliveries in central London have complained that the charge is hitting their profits.

And some have accused Livingstone, know as "Red Ken" for his leftwing politics, of having introduced a tax which hits poorer people hardest.

But Ruth Excell of Transport for London countered: "The vast majority of lower paid workers use the bus, so as part of the congestion charge scheme we laid on an additional 300 buses.

"One of the biggest winners are the bus users."

- AFP