Image via Wikipedia
Also discussed here: Sydney Morning Herald On Congestion Pricing (Jarrett Walker, Human Transit, Feb. 19, 2011)
Today’s review article is a summary of a debate about congestion pricing conducted by one of Sydney Australia’s newspapers. It has a number of arguments and statistics that are useful and applicable in other cities considering ways of reducing congestion.
Key Quotes:
“Road congestion is the inevitable result of too many people wanting to reach jobs and services that are too far away”
“In car-dependent cities such as Sydney, more than 12 per cent of the community's collective wealth is spent on transport, compared with 5 to 8 per cent of community wealth in cities with strong public transport”
“Congestion pricing systems free up enough road space so that motorists and freight can move reliably through the city. They do this by setting a price for driving through a congested area. The price varies with actual demand”
“if a congestion tax is designed to change our behaviour, then it will be effective only once we give motorists a viable alternative.”
“There is a presumption that we all have rights to enter the traffic and delay all other motorists, yet not contribute to the true cost associated with delay and lost time - the curse of congestion. It is estimated that more than $9 billion a year is wasted in lost travel time or avoidable congestion costs, increasing to about $20 billion by 2020.”
“"free" roads are not really free - the choice is between paying with time and frustration, or with money.”
“Congestion pricing, if and when it happens in Sydney, needs to start by replacing other fees associated with driving, especially those that affect rural areas where there's no alternative to driving and never will be”
Related articles
- Alternatives To Congestion Pricing (eschatonblog.com)
- Should motorists pay for the congestion they cause? (theage.com.au)
- If Congestion Pricing is So Great, Why Don't Businesses Do It? (theatlantic.com)
- Congestion pricing proposed for 2 Bay area bridges (sfgate.com)
- Congestion Pricing Rises From The Dead (newyork.cbslocal.com)
- Congestion is Welfare Reducing (seattletransitblog.com)
- Congestion and Road Pricing in Canada (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment