[pbx]

Yeah, they basically exempt everything that has less than four wheels:

"All two-wheeled vehicles (including with sidecars) - that is, motorbikes, mopeds and bicycles - are exempt from the congestion charge. You can ride them anywhere in the zone at any time without paying the charge and do not have to register for this exemption..." (from the Transport for London site)

I'm not too hot on the surveillance component either. Britain's pretty far down that road already, what with Gatso speed cameras and those vans that drive around scanning for people who are illegally watching TV...

 

[pbx]

Oop

I didn't mean to state it that way ("everything less than four wheels"), since that's definitely not the way their official site describes it. I wonder if Sparrows and the like are registered as "motorcycles" there as they are here.

 

[pbx]

The backlash has already started

The Times of London has this article calling for an end to the motorcycle exemption. Good quotes like "You are eight times more likely to be knocked down by a motorcyclist than a car in Central London."