Ed Reeve. Digicams grab the license plate of every car entering orexiting the toll zone, marked by system signs.
In London, it's rush hour all day, every day. The average traffic speed in the megalopolis now is less than 10 mph - the slowest ever recorded there. It takes a good 30 minutes to drive the 3 miles from Knightsbridge to Fleet Street. To tackle the problem, Mayor Ken Livingstone recently introduced "congestion charging," a toll for entering the 8-square-mile city center. The price of admission:-5, roughly $8 a day (cheap compared with the maximum $198 fine). Taxis, buses, and zero-emission cars are exempt. A ring of 230 digicams polices the system, reading every license plate entering the zone. The numbers are cross-referenced with a database of people who have prepaid in person, online, or by phone, text message or mail. Scofflaws beware: The pictures are time-stamped, and the camera doesn't lie.
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