Mayor Proposes Toll to Drive Into London

In an effort to end bumper-to-bumper traffic, London Mayor Ken Livingstone announced a plan to charge tolls for access to the city center. Under the plan, motorists would pay $7.50 per day and truckers three times that much to get into central London. The fee would apply weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Livingstone said he would like the tolls to be imposed in late 2002. Discounts for London residents and motorcyclists were likely, and emergency vehicles, buses, taxis and people with disabilities would be exempted. A network of cameras would identify vehicles by their license plates and check them against a database of those who had paid the toll. The penalty for evading the toll would be about $150.