Ken Livingstone was elected Mayor of London on a platform that included a congestion charge for central London, a policy that became reality on 17 February 2003. Richards uses his experience as Director of a £2.5 million Government congestion charging study, as one of those who created the scheme Livingstone adopted and as advisor to the London Assembly, to provide a critical record of the introduction of the London Congestion Charge, and of its implications for congestion charging elsewhere.

The Mayor's Challenge Why Charge? How to Charge? Highways and Traffic Restraint in London Before the Mayor Experience Around the World A New Beginning: The Blair Government, Congestion Charging and a Mayor for London The Formalities: The Mayor's Transport Strategy for London and his Congestion Charging Scheme The Mayor's Congestion Charging Scheme Implementing the Mayor's Congestion Charging Scheme The London Assembly: Scrutinising the Scheme The Critics, Doubters, Fence Sitters and Supporters The First Year Some Lessons Learned The Future Finally

MARTIN G. RICHARDS has over forty years of experience in transport planning. He retired as Chairman of The MVA Group, international transport planning consultants, in 2000. He was responsible for the Hong Kong Electronic Road Pricing Pilot Project planning studies, Director of the Department of Transport's London Congestion Charging Research Programme and a member of the ROCOL Working Group that developed the principles on which the London scheme is based, and advised the London Assembly on the scrutiny of the Mayor's congestion charging proposals. He was appointed an OBE in 1993 for services to transport planning.