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> let's introduce a point system with quotas tied to license plates and surge point deduction. [...] Unless of course some of the rich decide to buy additional

> let's introduce a point system with quotas tied to license plates and surge point deduction. [...] Unless of course some of the rich decide to buy additional cars just so they can drive more - although I don't think many would be willing to go to such lengths. During pollution spikes in Paris, the city occasionally alternates each day between forbidding odd or even ending car plates from circulating downtown. The rich do precisely what you say: buy an extra car and make sure the license plates are so they can drive any day regardless of restrictions.

Tade0 8y ago
Does it make financial sense comparing to taxis, or do they just buy some kind of barely-allowed shitbox as a substitute?
- paganel 8y ago
  I’d guess that from a certain point on you don’t look at the financial incentives only, but that you want to maintain your “status” (for different definitions of that word depending on different social environments). For example I know of people close to my age (late 30s) and from my social circles (middle-class people) who pride themselves for almost never using the metro, even though in the city where I’m living (Eastern Europe) the metro does a pretty good job at transporting most of the city’s population. As such, if a system that would forbid car circulation based on their license plates were to be introduced I’m pretty much sure that those same people would buy a second car especially in order to circumvent the new rules, and I’m also pretty much sure that that second car would be almost as “good” as their first car. Doing otherwise would be seen as a diminishing of those people’s social standing.
  - Tade0 8y ago
    Doing otherwise would be seen as a diminishing of those people’s social standing. That's what I'm getting at. Say they already drive the best car they can(or even cannot at times) afford. Do they switch to two 3 years older cars(assuming that's how long it takes for a car to lose half of its value)?
    - ddebernardy 8y ago
      That would presumably depend on the financial situation. Anecdotally I've run into 2nd or 3rd car plans moving forward (e.g. a kid mobile to cart the family around, or a small car for use by the older children) and outright buying a 2nd Mercedes as a matter of making a point. I can't recollect anyone in my circle of acquaintances that did this for who money would have been much of a consideration. Intuitively I do not think anyone is buying an old clunker as a supplemental vehicle to dodge such policies. The regulations during pollution spike control efforts could ban their use anyway, so it would need to be a recent car. And if cheap is a decision factor, you're probably using a combination of public transportation and the occasional cab anyway. (Public transportation is good enough in most major European cities that you can live without a car.)

Tade0 8y ago

Does it make financial sense comparing to taxis, or do they just buy some kind of barely-allowed shitbox as a substitute?

paganel 8y ago
I’d guess that from a certain point on you don’t look at the financial incentives only, but that you want to maintain your “status” (for different definitions of that word depending on different social environments). For example I know of people close to my age (late 30s) and from my social circles (middle-class people) who pride themselves for almost never using the metro, even though in the city where I’m living (Eastern Europe) the metro does a pretty good job at transporting most of the city’s population. As such, if a system that would forbid car circulation based on their license plates were to be introduced I’m pretty much sure that those same people would buy a second car especially in order to circumvent the new rules, and I’m also pretty much sure that that second car would be almost as “good” as their first car. Doing otherwise would be seen as a diminishing of those people’s social standing.
- Tade0 8y ago
  Doing otherwise would be seen as a diminishing of those people’s social standing. That's what I'm getting at. Say they already drive the best car they can(or even cannot at times) afford. Do they switch to two 3 years older cars(assuming that's how long it takes for a car to lose half of its value)?
  - ddebernardy 8y ago
    That would presumably depend on the financial situation. Anecdotally I've run into 2nd or 3rd car plans moving forward (e.g. a kid mobile to cart the family around, or a small car for use by the older children) and outright buying a 2nd Mercedes as a matter of making a point. I can't recollect anyone in my circle of acquaintances that did this for who money would have been much of a consideration. Intuitively I do not think anyone is buying an old clunker as a supplemental vehicle to dodge such policies. The regulations during pollution spike control efforts could ban their use anyway, so it would need to be a recent car. And if cheap is a decision factor, you're probably using a combination of public transportation and the occasional cab anyway. (Public transportation is good enough in most major European cities that you can live without a car.)