Congestion Charges

The Congestion Charge was introduced to London to, as the name implies, reduce congestion. With 230 roadside cameras, and a number of mobile camera units, noting registration numbers of vehicles travelling in and out of the zone, the system cost £200 million to set up and costs roughly £100 -- £115 million annually to run.

The system was originally projected to have paid for itself within 3 years of going live, however the Congestion Charge has been, in a way, too successful – there has been a vast reduction in vehicles travelling within the charge zone, meaning that Transport for London (the organisation that runs the system) has been unable to generate any revenue and has been running the system at a loss since its introduction.

This effectively means that the Charge itself is not contributing to any improvements on road services, or subsidising alternative means of transport, and money that could be used for such schemes is being diverted to supporting the administrative costs. This means that drivers are basically getting charged for the privilege of getting charged.

A TfL report in 2004 predicted that only seven out of 13 government aims for Transport in London were going to be met by 2010, and that one of the aims that would NOT be met would be a reduction in congestion in London as a whole. This is primarily because while traffic levels in London are still increasing, drivers are keeping out of the Congestion Chare zone but simply driving though other areas of London instead so that the congestion problem has not been solved, merely displaced.

Indeed, studies suggest that London has exported much of its congestion to suburban towns in Greater London and within the M25. These towns are now becoming car parks for commuters who then catch trains into the centre of London, creating congestion problems elsewhere, increasing journey times and reducing parking facilities for local residents.

An overview and history of the London Congestion Charge can be found at Wikpedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_congestion_charge