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****************************************London's congestion charge goes live
RASHMEE Z AHMED
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2003 07:06:01 PM ]
LONDON: The Indian software running the world�s largest and
most ambitious traffic control measure, London�s congestion
charging scheme, went live on Monday amid doubts, anxieties
and sniggers that technology might trip up Mayor Ken Livingstone�s daring
project.
Anxious Indian sources said the Mumbai-created software brain
appeared to be working "smoothly".
By afternoon, the first day of the five-pound charge to drive into
central London had passed like the traffic on the British capital�s
streets: free-flowing, smooth and largely hassle-free.
By midday, 45,000 people reported they had successfully paid the
congestion charge for driving into the 21-square-km area,
ring-fenced by 714 video cameras.
If successful, London�s congestion charge, which has got many
world capitals marvelling at its technological complexity and huge
area of operation, may become a key traffic control measure for
the 21st century.
As revealed in this paper, its software programming and
was done by an Indian company, which is currently
looking after the on-site maintenance.
Unlike Singapore and Oslo, the world�s other two, smaller,
ongoing congestion charging schemes, London uses character
recognition software in cameras to read vehicle licence plates.
The Mumbai-based company will continue to maintain the scheme
for at least the next seven years.
On Monday, Londoners, who have largely bemoaned the charge
till now, appeared to have recovered some of the famous British
sense of humour.
At least one newspaper cartoon put British prime minister Tony
Blair into a tank, presumably bound for Baghdad, until he was
stopped by Mayor Livingstone standing beside a large congestion
charge sign on the road.
Another paper portrayed Saddam Hussein standing by a similar
sign, painted onto the road at the edge of Baghdad. "Now let them
try to get in," he remarks.
Livingstone has said he expects the scheme to cut traffic by 10 to
15 percent and lead to a 25 percent reduction in traffic delays.
He has already apologised for the first technological glitch, which
saw 45 people being fined �120 for failing to pay the fee, weeks
before the scheme had officially started.
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