Congestion Pricing Plans Polarize London

Next week, in an effort to clean it up, the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, introduces congestion charging. Between 7 00 am and 6 30 pm every Monday to Friday, cars and trucks will pay a £5 daily charge for driving into central London. The system will be enforced by hundreds of closed circuit cameras that will check the licence numbers of cars entering the zone against a database of drivers who have paid the fee. The scheme is based on the simple economic premise that if people have to pay more for car travel they will buy less of it. Schemes in Singapore and Norway have resulted in substantial reduction in traffic... The government's strategy to tackle congestion is to encourage more walking to school through the introduction of school travel plans."