Tolls to Tower Over London

Street vendor Michael Williams’ face clouds when he’s asked about London’s soon-to-be-imposed toll to discourage traffic from the city center.

“How many times can you keep slapping the motorist?” he said, launching into a stream of expletives and waving his arms.

The normally chirpy Williams, who sells fruit outside the High Court, is furious that, beginning Feb. 17, he will have to pay 5 pounds, or about $8, on weekdays that he drives into central London.

Mayor Ken Livingstone’s congestion charge is billed as the world’s most ambitious attempt at easing traffic gridlock.

To Williams and many other motorists, the daily fee is unfair, unwieldy and, they hope, unenforceable.

“It’s making my business totally unfeasible,” said Williams, who contends that he’ll have to sell his modest fruit stall.

Motorists will be charged to enter a crowded 8-square-mile area, stretching from King’s Cross to Tower Bridge, Vauxhall Bridge to Marble Arch and incorporating the bustling financial district.

Livingstone predicts that the toll will cut traffic 20%, ease jams and raise $208 million a year for public transit.

In central London, traffic speed averages just under 10 mph during the day, City Hall says. It says motorists in the city center spend half their driving time stuck in jams, and it estimates that congestion costs London’s economy $3.2 million to $6.4 million a week.

A recent poll found that nearly one of three drivers surveyed voiced readiness to try to evade the toll. Fifty-five percent of the 614 people polled by London radio station LBC said the fee would do nothing to ease congestion, and 14% predicted that it would make gridlock worse.

“Using the roads is a nightmare. It is horse and cart time,” said market trader Gary Kinsman, who drives into the center daily to stock his Covent Garden clothing stall. “But what is the point of pushing people off the roads, without the trains and buses running properly?”

Opponents of the toll say that London’s over-stretched subway system is already packed to capacity, and that buses run erratically and painfully slow on the congested streets.

The RAC Foundation, a motorist group, approves of a congestion levy in theory, but believes that the mayor’s plan will cause traffic chaos as drivers seek to avoid the fee by driving around the edges of the toll zone.

“This is a very, very high-risk project,” said RAC spokesman Kevin Delaney. “I expect a significant increase in congestion on the roads leading into and around the charge area.”

Some other European capitals, including Stockholm and Copenhagen, are considering introducing tolls. In Rome, only residents of the heart of the city or those with special permits are allowed to drive into the center from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Others face a fine of $65.

Singapore uses electronic toll booths that automatically charge drivers about $1.40 when they pass through a central part of the Southeast Asian city-state at peak periods.

But, says Stephen Glaister, professor of transport and infrastructure at London’s Imperial College, the London plan is the most ambitious.

“The system is unique and has not been introduced on this scale anywhere in the world. Every single city in the world which has a similar problem will be looking to see if it works in London,” said Glaister, who is on the city board that implements the mayor’s transport strategy.

A network of 800 cameras will police the zone, photographing license plates between 7 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. weekdays. Those yet to pay will be given until midnight before being fined 40 pounds (about $65), rising to 80 pounds after two weeks and 120 pounds after 28 days.

Drivers can buy daily, weekly, monthly or yearly passes by credit card on the Internet and by phone or in person at post offices and some shops.

Residents of the zone will get a 90% discount. Registered disabled people, taxis, emergency services, moped riders and vehicles powered by alternative fuels are exempt.

Stephen Piggott, owner of Rex Judd Motorcycles, says the charge has brought a surge in demand for mopeds at his London shop.

“I can’t believe we are so busy for this time of year. We’ve been in business since 1931 and seen huge changes in the industry. But the resurgence this year is huge,” Piggott said.

Inner-city businesses say the charge will drive up their costs, and public sector workers such as nurses and teachers have argued that they should be exempt.

Actress Samantha Bond, who plays Miss Moneypenny in the latest James Bond movies, is a high-profile opponent of the charge and is supporting a group of London workers who are considering a court challenge.

“It will jeopardize the safety of people who travel on an insecure public transport system late at night because of financial constraints, and create a two-tier system dividing those who can afford the charge and those who cannot,” Bond said.

Transport for London concedes that there will be teething problems. But it says in a city where less than 15% of commuters drive into the center, motorists cannot come first.

“The people affected are a tiny proportion of voters in London,” Glaister said.

“Most Londoners accept that something has to be done about congestion. This something is quite radical, but it is fair to say that most Londoners are willing to give it a go.”