Cities as far afield as Tokyo and New York have been scrutinising the details of London's congestion charge. But interest elsewhere in Britain has been curiously muted.

In Edinburgh and Bristol, viewed as the next candidates for charging schemes, opposition has spilled over into the ballot box, with electoral changes making charging less likely.

Road pricing suffered a further knock with an announcement of prices on Britain's first toll motorway, the Birmingham northern relief road. A levy of £11 for lorries prompted an Australian director of the motorway's management company to boast that the road was a licence to print money.

Professor David Begg, chairman of the commission for integrated transport, said cities have been "putting the brakes on, rather than putting their skates on".

Although the government has passed legislation allowing local authorities to levy charges, Prof Begg said there was less urgency outside the capital, which accounts for 40% of all road congestion in Britain.

He added: "To me, the significance of congestion charging in London is that the issue has stayed on the agenda elsewhere as a policy tool. If it had failed, charging would have fallen off the agenda."

Edinburgh's Labour council has proposed a £2 toll on motorists, which could be introduced in 2006. But the unpopular scheme has prompted electoral gains by the Conservatives - notably at a byelection in Balerno, in which the Tories polled 1,600 votes to Labour's 300.

Opposition is also growing in Bristol, where the council proposed a £5 toll for drivers entering the city during the morning rush-hour. The Labour council lost control in this month's elections, leaving the anti-charge Liberal Democrats holding the balance of power.

Internationally, London's scheme has stimulated more enthusiasm. Michele Dix, the scheme's director, said she had received inquiries from Tokyo, the US, France, Switzerland, Germany and Sweden - to name just a few.

New York's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has budgeted for a charging scheme for motorists entering Manhattan.

Even the Arab world is watching: al-Jazeera television has carried extensive coverage of London's congestion charge. Cairo and Tehran, which both suffer from severe traffic jams, have registered interest in copying Mr Livingstone.