Abstract
The UK Government has reaffirmed its commitment to road pricing for tackling congestion. Central to the policy is the Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) for allocating money to local authorities for congestion relief and improvements in local productivity. The Government set up the DIRECTS Project (Demonstration of Interoperable Road-user End-to-end Charging and Telematics System) to help TIF-funded local authorities implement road user charging systems (RUCs). The challenges associated with planning, designing, implementing and operating an effective open RUC system are discussed. The current status of the DIRECTS system and the lessons that can be learnt from it are outlined.