All quiet as charge bites

Ken Livingstone's congestion charge scheme appears to be working smoothly despite his warning that the introduction of the £5 charge could be bloody. By 1pm, 57,000 motorists had paid the charge and there were no significant reports of any problems on public transport.

With half-term reducing the amount of traffic on the roads by 20 per cent, there were some holdups but few major problems on the roads.

A TfL spokesman said: "It is still very early days. We expect traffic patterns to changering the first few weeks and days of the scheme's operation. Congestion charging may take time to settle down."

Mayor Ken Livingstone said as the congestion charge came in at 7am: "I'm just waiting for something to go wrong."

And Mr Livingstone told Radio4's Today programme: "If this all goes badly wrong there is nobody else to blame. I won't be able to say it was some pollster or some spin doctor's fault."

But - in buoyant mood - as the rush hour reached its peak without any severe hold-ups, he said he would spend "much of the summer discussing where to extend the scheme to".

The Tube was reported to be busier than normal for a half-term Monday with problems particularly at King's Cross.

A spokesman for the AA said of the general situation on the roads: "It's been gain without pain - so far".

There were problems in the Blackwall Tunnel which was reduced to a 2mph crawl - down from its usual 25mph - at the height of the rush hour as thousands of motorists tried to find ways to avoid the charging zone - and the £5 toll.

The Elephant and Castle and Vauxhall Bridge Road also experienced heavier traffic than usual. But traffic on Marylebone Road seemed lighter.

Rail services also reported no major problems on the day of the capital's great experiment - although there were sporadic signs of a network under stress.

The truth was that as the cameras monitoring traffic went live, no one knew how the biggest traffic experiment in history would finally turn out.

Officials at the Mayor's Transport for London (TfL) office - and experts at motoring organisations - said it was too early to gauge how many drivers had given up their cars for a crumbling Tube network.

Around 30,000 motorists were expected to be forced out of their cars and on to public transport by the charge.

And as traffic continued to stream into London today it seemed likely that - as predicted - another 100,000 drivers would continue driving into the zone and pay the daily £5 charge, helping the Mayor raise an annual £130 million.

But with the Central line as well as the Waterloo and City line still out of action, it was still unclear precisely how many motorists would be persuaded to break the habit of a lifetime and travel by bus or Tube.

Mr Livingstone - who has staked his political future on the success of the scheme - said this morning: "Clearly we are not going to get through the day without problems.

"If there is a collapse at the call centres or if there is gridlock then clearly the system will have failed. I expect there will be problems with people trying to get in touch with the call centre and rat-running.

"This is an historic day for London. Everyone knows that tough decisions have to be made to tackle the congestion which cripples this city of ours. From today something is being done. Congestion charging is the only option available - there is no practical alternative."

But - ominously for opponents of the scheme - he added: "By Easter I am confident that most of us will be able to make an assessment that this has worked. We will spend much of the summer discussing where to extend the scheme to."

Motorists experienced mixed fortunes on the roads. By 8am there was heavy traffic along Vauxhall Bridge going into Westminster. Despite the prediction that more people would rely on the public transport system today, many buses that passed the bridge were half empty.

One driver of a No77 bus which goes from Wandsworth to Vauxhall said: "By this time the buses are usually packed but for some reason I haven't been that busy today. I think perhaps some people are worried they might get stuck in traffic on a bus and have opted to use the Tube instead."

At 7am - the moment the scheme went live - a total of 30,000 motorists had pre-paid to drive into the zone - 4,000 more than last night. More than 50,000 had registered to pay by text message and 19,000 residents of the charging zone - out of an estimated 25,000 who have cars and intend to use them on weekdays - had registered.

More than 93,000 disabled drivers had registered as had 60,000 fleet operators.

Dozens of protesters stood at the junction of Vauxhall Bridge and Millbankholding placards opposing the congestion charging scheme and handing out leaflets to motorists at the lights.

At King's Cross there were sporadic signs of a system under stress.

Passengers queued on the railway station concourse simply to get on to the steps leading down to the Underground station.

By 8am the underground station was packed with commuters streaming on and off the Victoria, Circle, Northern and Piccadilly line trains.

The crowds were held up by new Tube passengers, struggling to find their way round the underground after leaving their cars behind to escape the congestion charge.

As the crowds swelled in King's Cross underground station, an LU worker said: "It's definitely much busier already," he said. "I dread to think what it's going to be like later."