Congestion

Today I attended the maths postgraduate "induction". Fortunately, there was no formal ceremony involved, just lunch, some "housekeeping" details, assignment of offices and wine. I met a girl from Mexico who is starting her PhD in theoretical physics (categorized under "applied math" and thus in our department). It must be even harder for her to explain to people that the only practical applications of her work are to other aspects of mathematics.


When returning from our field trip to our new offices in Drury Lane (the PhD students' offices are not in the same building as the rest of the maths department--the pink boxes on the map to the right are the maths dept and the PhD students' offices), I got a chance to ask Rebecca (administrative staff in charge of the PhD program) about the congestion charge in London. Basically, there's a ring around central London which you are charged a fee for entering if you cross into it during the hours of 7 am to 6:30 pm, Monday through Friday. The charge is currently £8! Rebecca said she thinks it has really worked (and, at that price, I'm not surprised). She said you're supposed to pay ahead of time (you can do this online) and apparently you get charged a lot more if you don't. They use cameras to check.

Here's a map with various King's College campuses and buildings labelled. I live in Great Dover St Apartments and the maths department is on the Strand Campus.


This is a map of the current congestion charge region.


There are plans to expand the congestion charge region, though Rebecca says that it has met with stiff resistance and even protests from the wealthier regions, like Kensington. She also mentioned that the U.S. embassy is not happy about it and has been dodging the fees. Typical, huh?


Above is a map of the extended congestion charge region, effective February, 2007.