Congestion charging was introduced into central London in February 2003. In February 2007 the original central London congestion charging zone was extended westwards, creating a single enlarged congestion charging zone. Congestion charging contributes directly -
• to reduce congestion;
• to make radical improvements to bus services;
• to improve journey time reliability for car users;
• to make the distribution of goods and services more efficient;
• to reduce emissions.
Congestion charging scheme has involved many innovations in the area of collection of congestion charges from users. It has also created an elaborate system of monitoring and reporting on the impacts for implementation of the congestion-charging scheme on different indicators - traffic flows, congestion, bus passengers, bus speeds, bus service reliability, accidents and vehicle emissions.