A model for cities throughout the world, London's congestion charging scheme is "changing routines and creating new ones, becoming one more factor in the complex series of calculations that urban dwellers make every day," according to the Wall Street Journal. "Parents ask where their children's friends live before agreeing to play dates, to see if they will have to drive through the zone. Expectant mothers pay before driving to the hospital."

"One real-estate firm [in the congestion charge zone], W.A. Ellis, bought its staff motor-scooters, which are exempt from the charge, and paid for rider training courses and riding jackets and boots, so it wouldn't have to pay the charge for its employees."

What are the citywide results?

"The toll cut the number of vehicles entering the city 16.4% since 2002, to 316,000 a day in 2006, as more people walked, rode and took buses and trains instead, says Transport for London, the government agency that administers the program. The average driving speed rose to 10.5 miles per hour in 2003 from 8.7 miles per hour in 2002. The city is less polluted, with carbon-dioxide emissions falling 16.4% in the year the charge was introduced. The number of traffic accidents in which someone was hurt fell to 1,629 in 2005 from 2,296 in 2002, and 24,000 people cycled through the city every day in 2006, up from 16,000 in 2002, according to Transport for London. It is also easier and quicker to catch a taxi or bus, it says."

Worth it? We think so, but apparently the U.S. embassy in London doesn't agree. "The U.S. embassy has racked up more than $3.4 million in fines, prompting [London Mayor] Livingstone to publicly call U.S. Ambassador Robert Tuttle a 'little crook.'"

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