I thought congestion charging was a bad idea, too, for all of the reasons we see rehearsed on these threads when it comes up. Then I lived in London at the time

I thought congestion charging was a bad idea, too, for all of the reasons we see rehearsed on these threads when it comes up. Then I lived in London at the time their congestion charge was put in place. (And, to be clear, we were poor. Income-poor, at least: my partner was a student, and I was technically-speaking an illegal immigrant. We had a car - a gift from a family member - but had to budget down to the last penny: £5 "extra" expense was a matter for discussion, and in summer we'd use candles in the evening to economize on electricity - which, with a coin-fed meter, and incandescent bulbs, really did make a difference: I ran the numbers! I've never paid closer attention to money in my life.) The congestion charge was wonderful! Even for us, as income-restricted as we were, it sometimes made time-vs-money sense to pay £8 to drive into the congestion zone, because the charge had turned what had the year before been a highly-variable 60-90 minute journey into a predicable 35-45 minute trip. The beweeping about effects on "the poor" might make sense somewhere that public transport (unlike London or Manhattan) isn't available, but where that exists I think that argument is overblown. Maybe congestion pricing is a paradigm that has to be experienced to be appreciated, but having done so I'm a fan.