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APTN 1. Traffic entering congestion zone at Marble Arch 2. Signpost warning drivers they are entering congestion zone 3. Traffic passing congestion sign imprinted on road 4. Banks of cameras to read car number plates 5. Cars with number plates passing camera 6. Articulated red bus swings past Marble Arch 7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Voxpop: "You can't get rid of congestion. People are going to try to get on the Tube (subway) to get round it, but the Tube can't handle it at the moment, so you have chaos everywhere." 8. Wide shot of traffic crossing Tower Bridge 9. Medium shot of traffic along Tower Bridge 10. People dressed as pints of beer, handing five-pound notes to drivers 11. London mayor Ken Livingstone emerges from crowd of people walking along street 12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London: "Every traffic engineer in the world is following this, every city administration. I addressed the American Conference of Mayors on this. A lot of them said 'If it works and you get re-elected, I'll do it'. But they took both those two stages as important." POOL 13. Aerials over Tower Bridge 14. Aerials showing traffic across London APTN 15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Michele Dix, Director of congestion charge programme: "Throughout the world, people are watching London because we're introducing a scheme that's different to Singapore, say, where they have electronic road pricing. We're introducing a five-pound area charge that covers a very large area of central London, eight square miles, that people will have to pay in order to travel throughout the day. It's different to Singapore, it's different to Melbourne, where they have a toll scheme on roads. It's a different kind of scheme, covering a larger area, affecting more people." 16. Tourists riding on an open-top bus 17. Bus passing Houses of Parliament 18. SOUNDBITE: (English) Voxpop, South African tourist: "I don't think it's going to work because London's streets are too small. It's going to cause even more congestion than there is now." 19. SOUNDBITE: (German) Voxpop, German tourist: "I come from Munich and I think that you should collect taxes in order to build more roads and keep the streets clearer for pedestrians." 20. Tour bus departs against backdrop of St Paul's Cathedral STORYLINE: City planners across the world were watching London on Monday as the city launched a controversial scheme to cut downtown traffic. Drivers using the central zone between 7am and 6.30pm weekdays have to pay a five-pound 'congestion charge', with the revenue going to improve London's creaking public transport system. Buses and taxis are exempt from the charge. Critics feared gridlock as the rush hour began, but traffic was relatively free-flowing - although Monday marked the beginning of the half-term school holiday when traffic levels are lower anyway. It may be next week before officials are able to judge whether the charge is proving a success. The congestion charge is based on cameras which read the number plate of every car entering the central zone. The number is transmitted to a control room where computers check whether the levy has been paid. Drivers can pay in shops, car parks, online, over the telephone, or by text message. London mayor Ken Livingstone said the rest of the world would be likely to follow his lead if the scheme works - although many other major international cities have traffic-cutting programmes of their own. Singapore, for example, has overhead monitors in the central business district which can electronically read dashboard display cards. Melbourne has an electronic toll system linking the city's three busiest highways. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/185c5ad1e9a3eda001eb3d61060bab8e Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork