COMMENTARY
London offers lesson in traffic management

By Cliff Slater

LONDON — For as long as I can remember, traffic congestion in the central part of this city has been awful. In recent years, vehicle speeds have averaged less than 10 mph. However, the congestion has come to an end.

In February, London Mayor Ken "Red Ken" Livingstone began charging an $8 daily fee for driving in the city's center to cut traffic by 15 percent to 20 percent. It worked.

The fee easily is paid by phone or Internet and, to verify payment, video sensors digitize vehicle license plates and check them against a database of those who have paid. There is a significant fine if you do not pay on time.

The reduction in congestion has had some startling effects. The operators who run London's double-decker buses have had to readjust their schedules because bus speeds have radically improved.

Oxford Street, a shopping mecca for millions, has experienced bumper-to-bumper traffic for as long as anyone can remember. Today, traffic moves freely.

In 1997, I wrote about the dramatic reduction in crime in New York City resulting from a radical change in crime-management techniques. Police from all over the world were traveling to New York to find out how it had cut crime in half.

Today, elected officials from all over the world are traveling to London to see how it has been able to eliminate its formerly horrendous traffic congestion.

Although congestion pricing has been implemented successfully in Singapore; Trondheim, Norway; and Rome, Italy, among other places, it is its success in London — one of the world's largest cities — that has drawn major attention.

Congestion pricing in the United States is limited to a few tollways.

Based on both public and business support for the London experiment, the U.K. plans a nationwide highways program that would eliminate gas taxes and substitute congestion pricing.

The proposed program calls for a GPS in every vehicle that is hooked to an anonymous Smart Card reader by satellite. Officials anticipate that rural road use will be almost free, while in-town travel at rush hour will be the most expensive.

By managing traffic through congestion pricing, more cars can be carried by our highways. This is one of the prime reasons why traffic should be managed, instead of continuing the chaotic conditions we have today.

Six years ago when I wrote about the drop in New York crime, I noted that although Hawai'i's crime was up, Honolulu police still had not gone to New York to see how they were doing it.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes for any of our elected officials to get to London.

Cliff Slater is a regular columnist. His footnoted columns can be found at www.lava.net/cslater.