London to Introduce Traffic Congestion Charge

Vivek writes "BBC is reporting that Londoners will have to pay a 5 pound "Congestion Charge" starting Feb 17. According to this Times of India article, an Indian software firm called Mastek developed the .NET based software to implement the plan. In the absence of toll booths, it reportedly uses character recognition from 700 surveillance cameras to identify defaulting license plates." See our previous story for background.

Good thing...

[trbogie]

It's a good thing James Bond has those switchable license plates.

The organisers' names will be MUD...

[Ann O'Nymous-Coward]

Or they will be when they realise that:

1. Lousy London Weather

2. Muddy Roads (or, maybe deliberately applied mud smears, shh)
3. Obscured number plates ...
n. _NO_ PROFIT!

Re:Tubes already crowded

[Oculus Habent]

Nah, everyone will be required to use a Suitcase Car [roadraceengineering.com] - it will remove the need for on-street parking, opening up additional lanes. Also, in traffic you can just get up and walk.

Won't work.

[grub]

The cameras will be focused on the wrong side of the roads. All they'll get are pictures of the car hoods.

5 pounds

[Anonymous Coward]

For those not in the know, thats 5 pounds of money. Or, for the metrically inclined, its about 2.3 kilos of money. This roughly equates to a metric ass-load.

Re:Tubes already crowded

[turgid]

No, that would be sensible, rational and expensive. These are British politicians we're talking about.

Re:Not addressed in the article

[Anonymous Coward]

In order to revamp the roads, they'd have to raze the homes of tens and tens of thousands of people

Yes, but they would be able to relocate very quickly.

Satch?

[Sunkist]

Louis Armstrong, RICS chief executive, said: "RICS is broadly in favour of congestion charging, but this survey echoes concerns already raised by us; that whilst the scheme may succeed in reducing traffic in central London, it may have the reverse effect on the areas bordering the charging zone."

then Satch proceeded into a hot and blistering 3 minute jazz solo and closed with "What a wonderful world".

Re:Good thing...

[stroudie]

A pedant writes...

James Bond works for MI6 - who are based at Vauxhall Cross, on the South bank of the Thames.
Happily this is just outside the congestion charging zone, so no five-pounds-a-day for Mr.Bond.

The map is here (pdf) [cclondon.com]

Re:Tubes already crowded

[91degrees]

Yes. That would be a good idea.

Personally, I think the only solution to London's overcrowding would be to reduce the number of people in London.

The Getaway on PS2

[Rik Sweeney]

Do you think the sequel will feature Congestion Charging?

Why not pass a law?

[PackMan97]

If commuters are the problem, why not pass a law prohibiting companies within the congestion zone from hiring employees that don't live in the congestion zone? That should take care the problem.

For every problem there is a law that can solve it!

Next?

Re:Not addressed in the article

[Rik Sweeney]

You forgot

6. Profit!!!

Re:Time to.....

[homer_ca]

It doesn't have to fool a human inspector, just an OCR algorithm working on a fuzzy video feed. Just print random license plate numbers on paper in the same font and hold it up in your back window when you pass a camera. You don't even have to drive. Just hold up the papers while you walk by a camera. Might as well see how their .NET servers stand up to a good crap-flooding.

Re:Tubes already crowded

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently a group of population reduction specialists from the Middle East are currently working on this project, after the US backed IRA recently decided to abandon a similar mission.

Exemptions

[micromoog]

One of the exemptions [cclondon.com] is for "Vehicles with 9 or more seats". Can't wait to see the new breed of monster SUV's that suddenly become popular in central London . . .

Re:A bit late...

[Captain Large Face]

More like another elusive scoop.

Re:Good thing...

[FatherOfONe]

I am a bit confused about this. Why don't you guys just break the cameras? Just shoot the things out. It will prove too costly to support and they will just dump the things in the future.

Re:Tubes already crowded

[mikey_boy]

bah - I got this when I first moved to london, but it seems to have passed now ... my theory is that my body is working out a way to get me some super powers out of it. Hopefully it will involve flying, so I can skip the crappy commute.

Of course, the more likely explanation is that I am ingesting it all, and am now slowly dying ... looking on the bright side, I still won't have to worry about traffic!

Re:Good thing...

[faichai]

I cycle to work through the charging zone - if any car cuts me up or otherwise messes with me, I'm gonna make a note of the numberplate, get one made, and strap it to my back.

That fucker is gonna get £80 fines for the rest of his days!!!

Re:Tubes already crowded

[mgs1000]

Well, they're off to a good start by moving some software jobs out to India.

Microsoft, eh?

[labratuk]

an Indian software firm called Mastek developed the .NET based software to implement the plan.

So if you see people walking around London with big signs, something along the lines of

...%u9090%u6858%ucbd3%u7801%u9090...

you'll know what they're trying to do.

Re:What if

[jez9999]

I borrow my friends plate

Haha, this is funny.

"Sorry officer, I didn't know it could be an offence to purposely unscrew my plates and put on my friend's plates, thereby tricking people into thinking my car is my friend's and very quickly losing me the friend. I mean who wouldn't want to do that? Are you telling me it isn't perfectly legal?"

Re:Tubes already crowded

[Muad'Dave]

Well, Luke, use your blaster to target them womp-rats! They're not much bigger than 2 meters!

Re:Tubes already crowded

[gr0ngb0t]

Tony Blair is Left wing? I thought he was Margaret Thatcher with plastic surgery and a haircut.

the things you learn eh?