Slashdot Mirror
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.
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!
Nah, everyone will be required to use a Suitcase Car - it will remove the need for on-street parking, opening up additional lanes. Also, in traffic you can just get up and walk.
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
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.
No, that would be sensible, rational and expensive. These are British politicians we're talking about.
Stick Men
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.
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.
Do you think the sequel will feature Congestion Charging?
Summation 2
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?
You forgot
6. Profit!!!
Summation 2
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.
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.
One of the exemptions 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 . . .
More like another elusive scoop.
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.
... looking on the bright side, I still won't have to worry about traffic!
Of course, the more likely explanation is that I am ingesting it all, and am now slowly dying
Well, they're off to a good start by moving some software jobs out to India.
So if you see people walking around London with big signs, something along the lines ofyou'll know what they're trying to do.
Malike Bamiyi wanted my assistance.
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?"
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
Well, Luke, use your blaster to target them womp-rats! They're not much bigger than 2 meters!
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
Tony Blair is Left wing? I thought he was Margaret Thatcher with plastic surgery and a haircut.
the things you learn eh?