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Congestion pricing for use of city streets would quickly solve any problems due to increased use.
by orasis 9y ago
Congestion pricing for use of city streets would quickly solve any problems due to increased use.
- QAPereo 9y agoDid it in London?
- jahnu 9y agoYeah http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-21451245 http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-21451245
- QAPereo 9y agoThat’s from 2013... more recently http://metro.co.uk/2017/01/19/is-this-the-end-of-the-roadfor-the-london-congestion-charge-6390417/ http://metro.co.uk/2017/01/19/is-this-the-end-of-the-roadfor... https://www.ft.com/content/40774fc6-76b5-11e6-bf48-b372cdb1043a https://www.ft.com/content/40774fc6-76b5-11e6-bf48-b372cdb10...
- isostatic 9y agoIn London taxis are classed as public transport - don't have to pay congestion charges, and the legacy expensive cash-only ones can use bus lanes (but not south of the river at this time of night). The upshot of this is its far cheaper to park outside and get a taxi from outside the zone than to drive all the way in, despite not saving on congestion. The reason it didn't used to be as easy was black cabs are an archaic unreliable form of transport. Uber in the other hand is more convienient than driving and parking.
- walshemj 9y agoI have always found black cabs reliable I lost my wallet in one and it was handed into my bank with the £200 intact
- isostatic 9y agoReliable as in being able to get one. If you park somewhere out near Hanger Lane say, an uber is a few minutes away from your side street, a black cab is unlikely to be there for some days.
- Nursie 9y agoBlack cabs are not cash only, and are in fact required to have a functioning card reader in the passenger compartment.
- s73ver_ 9y agoNot really. All it would do is increase costs on those least able to afford it.
- darawk 9y agoIt would also solve congestion, though.
- oculusthrift 9y agoyeah but the point is do we really want to reduce congestion by making poor people unable to afford transportation
- jahnu 9y agoThe poor people take the buses anyway which finally now run on time http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-21451245 http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-21451245
- darawk 9y agoYa, that is indeed the question. Just pointing out that it would in fact work.
- jdavis703 9y agoParking is already controlled at "market rate." In San Francisco parking can easily run over $20/day. If you can afford $20/day just to park your vehicle, then you should be able to afford congestion pricing, or else find an alternative (which would hopefully get you in to the city faster since there's less congestion).
- gburt 9y agoNo one said it has to raise revenue. This whole process could be revenue neutral. Give direct cash injections to the bottom 20% to offset the cost. This is about incentives, not revenue.
- savanaly 9y ago
- stretchwithme 9y agoAbsolutely. Space on the street is a valuable, limited resource, especially at peak times. And it should be priced accordingly. We also need competition in bus service, not government-run, subsidized monopolies. Then we'd see many more transportation options. We should look at how these problems are solved in other countries. Or all of the innovation we had here in the US when cars first became practical, before the cab monopolies were established. While some regulations make sense, those that establish monopolies, fixed supplies, and shortages should be avoided. These inevitably lead to waste, corruption, more crime and terrible service.
- mrbabbage 9y ago> We also need competition in bus service, not government-run, subsidized monopolies. Then we'd see many more transportation options. No local transportation system in America covers its operating costs using fare revenue. Most local bus agencies in America only cover about 20% of opex with fares; the best agencies (e.g. BART) might get to 70%. This doesn't even consider capital costs. Good luck getting a private entity to run a charity service. Local transportation is not a profitable endeavor and never has been. > We should look at how these problems are solved in other countries. Hint: it's not because the great Euro and Asian cities have competition. Only a handful like Tokyo have competing systems.
- stretchwithme 9y agohttp://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-mitchell-jitneys-uber-ride-share-20140713-story.html http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-mitchell-jitneys-...
- matchbok 9y agoPlease present an argument, not a link. This is hacker news, not reddit.
- stretchwithme 9y ago
- ComputerGuru 9y agoYou're saying only the rich should be able to afford a comfortable, reliable, and convenient mode of transportation. The real answer is to fix the horribly broken mass transit system across the nation. Only NYC and Chicago, maybe Boston and DC have a halfway decent system (and all four are horribly antiquated by any modern standard).
- TheCoelacanth 9y agoFalse dichotomy. Improving mass transit would be much easier with the funding raised by having a congestion charge.
- criddell 9y agoPublic transportation systems doing a better job of serving communities than Uber or Lyft would also work.
- jopsen 9y agoI suspect we would need to practically out-law personal driving during rush-hours to make public transit attractive. Or apply a massive fee for driving in rush-hours. Then you would, however, have so little traffic and so many users that transit could be made nice. But these things are politically impossible, and never really attempted.
- criddell 9y agoSounds like the Harrison Bergeron method of improving government services. I think we can do better than that.