No congestion pricing
Jul 17, 2007 Metropolis
Mayor Michael Bloomberg conceded failure Tuesday on his controversial plan to reduce traffic by charging drivers extra fees to enter Manhattan’s most congested neighborhoods. A day earlier, the plan had collapsed in the state Capitol.
I think that’s a shame. This fee would have been a big burden for a lot of people, and a small burden for me. But something has to give with traffic in New York, and I was interested in seeing how this class microeconomics-driven solution would have worked. I would like to think that Milton Friedman could have pulled some strings from the Other Side; but then again, as a cursed libertarian I cannot vouch from which side of the Other Side he’s on.
Too bad. Maybe some more manageable, or even a governable, major city will try this in the U.S.
July 17th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Doesn’t the gridlock itself provide an incentive to keep one’s car out?
July 17th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Just keep asking yourself that question until you realize that you have answered it, Bob.
July 17th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
London has tried this before and I have read anecdotal evidence that it caused several city center businesses to lose customers. This very idea was proposed by an alderman in Chicago recently. I hope these types of bad proposals never see the light of day. Besides, if the government were to impose fees on cars to disincentivize driving in the city center, why should the government get to keep the revenue.