LONDON: British drivers could find themselves paying around 80 pence (S$1.88) per km for the privilege of using the country's most congested roads.

According to a report by the Times of London yesterday, the government has confirmed that it is recruiting hundreds of drivers to test the satellite-based scheme.

It quoted Transport Minister Paul Clark as saying that it would be pressing on with the plan, despite previous statements suggesting that it had abandoned the idea of national road-pricing.

The paper said that test runs of the scheme, which will involve fitting satellite tracking devices to individuals' cars, would begin early next year, although Mr Clark would not say when a real version was likely to be implemented.

The onboard unit could also be used to automatically deduct congestion charges and bridge and motorway tolls from users' accounts, and might eventually be used to collect payment for the use of every road a driver takes.

According to a 2004 feasibility study, the highest rate which might be imposed is &pound1.30 a mile (1.6km), although it said that would apply to 'only 0.5 per cent of traffic'.

Like Singapore's electronic road pricing (ERP) charges, the price of using a particular road is likely to vary according to the time of day, as well as the direction of travel and the scale of congestion.

All charges would be presented on a single bill, which drivers would be able to check via the Internet.

The paper quoted a Department for Transport document as saying: 'We need to explore how we might move to a different way of paying for road use: It is clear that any form of road pricing would be more effective if it could target congestion by charging on the basis of when and where a journey is being made.'

But that means records of a driver's movements could be held on a central database, raising concerns about privacy. In a bid to address such fears, drivers will be able to set their onboard units to transmit only the number of miles driven at each charging rate, rather than the actual locations at which the charges were incurred.

The in-car units could also theoretically be used to detect and impose fines for speeding, although ministers have said they would not be used for that purpose.

Such assurances have met with a degree of public scepticism, however, despite MrClark saying: 'Any form of road pricing must address people's concerns around fairness and privacy.'

But he made it clear that doing nothing to address the problem of Britain's increasingly congested roads was not an option, and four companies have reportedly already been recruited to test different charging systems. Another three have been brought in to test methods of enforcing a pricing scheme and ensuring its accuracy.

Mr Clark said: 'If we sit back and do nothing, you can be sure that economic growth will lead to gridlock.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Nov 6, 2008.

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