[sustran] UK Congestion charge chiefs may profit from a Swedish lesson

[Eric Britton]

The Times

April 06, 2006

 


Congestion charge chiefs may profit from a Swedish lesson


By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent







 


AN INTELLIGENT congestion charging system pioneered in Stockholm, in which
tolls vary according to the time of day and charges are automatically
deducted from a driver’s bank account, is being considered for London. 

Transport for London (TfL) is sending a team to the Swedish capital to study
the system with a view to adopting it in 2009. 

Stockholm’s system has cut twice as much traffic as Ken Livingstone’s
scheme, despite drivers paying an average of only £2 a day. 

The Mayor of London raised the flat-rate daily charge by 60 per cent to £8
last summer but this failed to reduce traffic further. 

Stockholm charges drivers each time they cross the city boundary. The toll
starts at 75p between 6.30am and 7am and rises to a maximum of £1.50 between
7.30am and 8.30am. 

It is capped at £5 per day but most drivers pay less than half that because
they cross the boundary only twice, once on the way in to work and once on
the way home. 

Drivers in London have to remember to pay each day and can do so at a shop,
by text message, online or by ringing a call centre. In Stockholm, more than
60 per cent of drivers have a credit card-sized electronic tag fitted on the
windscreen behind the rear-view mirror. This is read electronically by
beacons on overhead gantries that straddle the road at 18 points of entry to
the city. 

Screens on the gantries display the amount that will be charged at that
time. 

The system deducts payments from drivers’ bank accounts by direct debit and
issues monthly statements showing the time of each crossing and the fee
paid. 

The tags are issued free and more than 420,000 drivers have fitted them
since the scheme began on January 3. 

Those who do not have tags are given five days to pay by post or at a shop.
After that they are fined £5, which rises to £40 after four weeks. 

In London the £8 charge rises to £10 if it is not paid by 10pm on the day a
driver enters the charging zone. If it is still not paid by midnight the
driver incurs a £50 fine that rises to £150 after 28 days. 

The two cities have the same number of drivers entering the charging zone
each day but drivers in London are five times more likely to be fined. 

Mr Livingstone receives £70 million a year in fines, which accounts for more
than half the annual profit from the scheme. Maria Svanelind, special
adviser to Stockholm’s mayor, Annika Billstrom, said: “We have learnt from
London’s mistakes and have a more modern system which the motorist sees as
fair. We do not want to penalise people for forgetting to pay. We recognise
that it sometimes takes a while to get round to remembering.” 

Stockholm will have a referendum on September 17 to decide whether the
scheme should continue. 

Ms Svanelind said: “People will have had six months to judge whether they
like the scheme. If they vote no, we will remove it. But we think most see
the benefits of less congested roads.” 

Olaf Sandstrom, a journalist for Stockholm’s Dagens Industri newspaper, said
public opinion had initially been strongly against the scheme but was now
more evenly balanced. 

More than 2,000 people in Stockholm now drive to work earlier to be at their
desks before charges begin at 6.30am. 

As in London, the profits from the scheme are reinvested in transport. But
Stockholm plans to spend a significant proportion on new roads, whereas Mr
Livingstone has spent most of the proceeds on extra buses. 

TfL is conducting a six-month trial in Southwark involving 500 vehicles
equipped with tags and 19 gantries with electronic beacons. 

Morten Bratlie, for Q Free, the Norwegian company that supplied the
technology in Stockholm, said it had developed a new type of gantry which
resembled a lamp post. 

“It stretches out a bit further over the road than a normal lamp post but it
is reasonably discreet. The beacon and the cameras for reading the
numberplates can be hidden inside.” 




Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2120871,00.html

 

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