While Bermuda?s congestion problems mount, they are tiny compared to traffic jams in London where a radical congestion tax was introduced nearly two years ago to discourage unnecessary journeys.

Motorists pay a $10 daily surcharge for driving weekdays in central London, however cars powered partly or totally by alternative fuels such as as liquid petroleum gas or electricity are exempt in a bid to cut down on fuel emissions.

The Mayor of London hopes the charge will cut congestion by up to 15 percent and raise at least ?130 million a year which, by law, will have to go back into the capital?s transport system, according to a BBC website.

Taxis, licensed minicabs, emergency services, vehicles driven by disabled drivers and alternative energy vehicles are exempt from the surcharge while other vehicles are entitled to a discount include residents and vehicle breakdown recovery services.

The charge is levied for journeys between 7 a.m. and 6.30 p.m., Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays and is policed by cameras on roads which read car registration plates.

Bermuda resident Drew Horsfield said the scheme would be workable here as there were few access points to major roads so it would be easy to monitor.

He said: ?We have seen the impact in London.?

He said traffic build-up in central areas had been reduced.

However Bermudian Warren Cabral has lived and worked in London for three years and described the scheme as intrusive and politically unwise for any Government that tried to copy it in Bermuda.

He said: ?It?s hugely expensive. It?s overkill for the problem.?

Businesses in the centre of the city had lost out, although he said taxi journeys were marginally quicker. Instead he said ways should be found to reward car pooling.

Mr. Horsfield also said traffic control measures on residential roads such as speed bumps and chicanes should be introduced.

The Tamarind Vale resident said commuters were speeding past his house at the end of the day, creating a hazard for residents, including children, getting off buses.

?This requires a classification of our roads into main arterial roads and secondary residential roads,? said Mr. Horsfield.

?Logic tells me we have, say, three roads that can be classed as main arterial roads ? Harbour Road, Middle Road and South Road ? in the western parishes for example.

?The other roads are secondary and are feeder roads ? essentially to residential areas.?

He said Tamarind Vale residents had been lobbying for a pilot scheme of traffic calming measures to control end-of-the-day commuter traffic and speeding cars passing through the residential area.

?Our MP, Neville Darrell, has been meeting with Works and Engineering, Minister Brown and the Road Safety Council, all to no avail, despite neighbourhood meetings and lobbying.?

He also said installing pavements should become a priority.

?If we repave ten miles of public roads a year why don?t we insist that all the wires are put unto trenches when we repave a main road and provide pavements for main roads??

He said the section of Middle Road from Spicelands Riding school to St. Anthony?s Church in Warwick has had a pavement strip owned by Government for 30 years but has not had it installed.

?A house was knocked down 30 years ago for the pavement but there is still no pavement.?

Mr. Horsfield also said Bermuda would be wise to mirror Britain where Planning insists on traffic limiting measures such as car pooling before approving school expansions.

He said such a stipulation should have been used before approving the new Berkeley project with a planning application granted with the condition that 50 percent fewer vehicles entered Berkeley Road between 7.30 a.m. and 8.30 a.m. each day.

?This forces the school to adopt car pooling or dedicated school buses with specific scheduled pick-up points throughout the Island ? say Post Office car parks.

?This has been utilised in England successfully. Schools also can stagger their hours.?

He suggested earlier starts and four school terms to allow for efficient use of resources.

?It is normal to have a traffic generation study for new developments as a pre-planning information study, this is simply extended to allow for the reduction of traffic.?