congestion pricing posts, articles, and infographics

More on VMT

February 10, 2010 by RyanAvent
with 106 views

It’s interesting to me that so many people find the idea of a VMT tax to be clearly ridiculous. At present, federal gas tax revenues are insufficient to cover spending on highways (to say nothing of all transportation needs), and spending on transportation is insufficient to cover critical needs (to say nothing of desirable expansions... [read more]

Ken Henry on tax reform

December 20, 2009 by DavidJeffrey
with 105 views

If the tax structure from early last century prevailed today, we would have to raise $40 billion from excise and $230 billion from tariffs to meet today's revenue demand. At that rate the excise on a schooner of beer would be around 7 times what it is today. And I shudder to think how much a television set would cost. That's Treasury... [read more]

Dutch pursue idea of cross-country road pricing

November 16, 2009 by Tyler Hamilton
with 188 views

Scrap all road taxes. Scrap all vehicle taxes. Instead, charge people for every kilometre they drive, when the drive, and where they drive. That’s what the Dutch are promising to have in place by 2012. Of course, the idea of road tolling and congestion charging isn’t entirely new. We’ve seen it on a smaller scale in cities such as... [read more]

Congestion pricing payoff: More alt fuel cars on road

September 29, 2009 by Todd Woody
with 84 views

photo: Think In The New York Times today, I write about how Stockholm’s congestion pricing system, which charges drivers to enter the city center, has helped triple the number of alternative fuel cars in the Swedish capital: When Sweden began charging motorists to drive into downtown Stockholm during rush hour, the goal was to reduce... [read more]

The Dumb Case Against Rail Investment

July 6, 2009 by RyanAvent
with 54 views

Hey, all. I’m back from vacation and taking on Glaeser’s latest inexplicably silly op-ed.Ed Glaeser is a fantastic economist. He has done magnificent work analyzing the economics of urban growth and written indispensable papers on the connection between housing regulations and migration. But when the man picks up his pen to write a... [read more]

Open-road electronic tolling also reduces emissions

July 2, 2009 by Lynne Kiesling
with 78 views

Today a post from Ben Casselman at the WSJ’s Environmental Capital highlights one of my favorite unintended benefits of open-road electronic tolling: by eliminating deceleration and acceleration to pay a cash toll, electronic tolling reduces emisssions, with one big caveat: So does eliminating toll booths really cut down on emissions?... [read more]

What Good is Congestion Pricing?

May 6, 2009 by RyanAvent
with 95 views

Alice Rivlin and Benjamin Orr are recommending the nation move to a system in which vehicle miles traveled are tolled, with a toll that varies by congestion level. They suggest it be tested in a major metropolitan area first — Washington. What would this look like? The system might work like this: Vehicles would be fitted with a GPS... [read more]

London Calling: Congestion Charge Recharges Electric Cars

November 29, 2007 by Joseph Romm
with 134 views

London could soon replace California as the electric car capital of the world. Thanks in large part to Mayor “Red Ken” Livingstone, who enacted London’s much criticized congestion charge policy in 2003. The policy, which exempts electric cars from hefty daily taxation, is resulting in increasingly significant vehicle choices for... [read more]

Is NYC taking wrong approach to congestion pricing?

October 12, 2007 by Tyler Hamilton
with 98 views

Bern Grush over at the blog Grush Hour says New York City is making a mistake with its plan to introduce congestion pricing in America's largest city. The mistake, he says, is in its approach. "The assumed, but apparently not absolutely fixed, technological approach for the system is the E-ZPass tag and beacon system that has operated... [read more]

Has congestion road pricing's time come?

September 19, 2007 by Tim Haab
with 94 views

From the AP (via ENN):Drivers waste nearly an entire work week each year sitting in traffic on the way to and from their jobs, according to a national study released Tuesday. The nation's drivers languished in traffic delays for a total of 4.2 billion hours in 2005, up from 4 billion the year before, according to the Texas Traffic... [read more]