Highway 407 Express Toll Route (ETR) is a privately owned toll highway north of Toronto, leased by the provincial government for 99 years in 1999. The 407 uses electronic tolling without toll booths, automatically charging vehicles using transponders or license plate recognition. The privatization has been controversial due to high and regularly increasing tolls, with the highway owned by a consortium including foreign investors. The 407 demonstrates both benefits (private financing for infrastructure) and concerns (loss of public control, high user costs) of highway privatization. Municipalities along the route deal with traffic diversion when drivers avoid tolls by using free municipal roads.