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Transport (Greater Manchester)

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that it is a sophisticated scheme. In fact, one of its great merits is that it does not charge people throughout the day, as in London, for travelling in and out of the scheme. It is a peak-hours-only scheme, using a tag and beacon system. When people enter the zone, they will have to pay once and there is no prospect of their having to pay twice for entering the scheme. Clearly, they have to enter the scheme, and if they return during the peak hour, they will be charged a top-up fee. It is because the scheme is peak hours that it will reduce the amount of traffic during the peak times, and it will alter the choices that people make between using the car in the peak times, driving outside those times or using public transport. It is an inherent virtue of the scheme that it can charge people for driving at the most congested period of the day, rather than for using the roads per se.