Pick
any
major
city
and
you're
certain
to
find
lots
of
traffic.
Big
city
traffic
is
how
you
flow
in
and
out
of
most
cities,
it's
a
threat
to
life
and
limb
when
crossing
streets
and
since
it's
often
a
molasses-like
mass
of
belching
vehicles,
big-city
traffic
is
the
surest
way
to
enrich
local
cab
drivers
when
going
crosstown,
uptown
or
nowhere
at
all.
It
now
turns
out
that
New
York's
Mayor
Michael
Bloomberg
-- a
guy
who
takes
the
subway
to
work
--
wants
to
reduce
Manhattan
traffic
in
his
fair
city
by
instituting
what's
called
"congestion
pricing."
The
idea
is
to
charge
$8 a
day
for
auto
users
who
want
entry
into
the
heart
of
Manhattan,
thereby
reducing
vehicular
traffic
volume,
cutting
pollution
and
raising
money
which
can
be
used
to
better
public
transit.
One
study
by
the
Global
Strategy
Group,
a
political
polling
organization,
shows
that
if
you
charged
$8
per
day
per
car
for
access
to
the
city
from
60th
Street
south
to
the
Bowery
at
the
tip
of
Manhattan,
then
traffic
would
be
cut
by
50
percent.
Another
10
percent
of
those
surveyed
said
they
would
neither
drive
nor
use
mass
transit,
which
means
they
would
work
at
home.
However,
17
percent
said
they
would
have
to
drive
regardless
of
the
charge
because
public
transport
was
not
realistically
available
to
them.
Is
congestion
pricing
a
solution
to
the
nation's
crowded
cities?
Is
it a
magical
cure
that
would
raise
money
for
local
governments
while
cutting
pollution?
Actually,
congestion
pricing
already
exists
in
both
London
and
Stockholm,
and
the
programs
are
said
to
be
hugely
popular.
(The
program
in
London
costs
£8
daily,
more
than
$16
in
U.S.
currency.)
The
electronic
pass
programs
now
used
in
many
states
to
collect
highway
tolls
without
stopping
traffic
could
also
be
used
for
a
congestion
pricing
program:
If
you
commute
you
would
get
a
transponder
for
your
car.
Once
you
pass
a
detector
at a
given
access
point
your
account
would
be
charged
for
the
day.
At
the
end
of
the
month
your
total
bill
for
access
to
the
city
would
be
paid
automatically
by
credit
card.
If
you
did
not
have
a
transponder,
then
you
would
have
to
move
through
a
toll
plaza
and
pay
in
cash.
(In
Israel,
Highway
6 is
all
electronic
--
there
are
no
toll
plazas
and
you
can
only
enter
with
a
transponder.)
Congestion
pricing
would
produce
a
number
of
winners:
If
you
owned
a
home
or
apartment
inside
the
congestion
zone,
unit
values
would
rise
because
there
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would
be
less
pollution,
reduced
noise
and
no
cost
to
enter
the
area.
If
you
lived
in
an
area
with
easy
public
access
to
downtown
then
property
values
would
go
up.
As
an
example,
Astoria
in
the
borough
of
Queens
is
15
minutes
from
mid-town
Manhattan
by
train.
Congestion
pricing
would
encourage
more
people
to
car
pool,
thus
cutting
the
impact
of
the
daily
fee
while
getting
more
cars
off
the
road.
There
would
be
exceptions
for
cabs,
buses
and
delivery
vehicles.
Less
traffic
would
speed
the
flow
of
vehicles
into
the
city,
in
itself
a
result
that
would
reduce
pollution.
There
is a
security
aspect
to
congestion
pricing
in
the
sense
that
vehicles
with
transponders
can
be
tracked.
Think
of
the
commercial
systems
which
allow
you
to
press
a
button
for
roadside
help
or
if
you're
locked
out
of a
car.
While
congestion
pricing
has
its
benefits
and
has
proved
to
be
successful,
it
also
has
some
drawbacks.
First,
congestion
pricing
is a
financial
burden.
The
cost
of
commuting
is a
big
deal
to
most
drivers
and
making
it
more
expensive
is
essentially
elitist:
If
you
operate
a
hedge
fund,
an
extra
$8 a
day
is
irrelevant;
if
you're
a
computer
programmer
working
in a
downtown
office
tower,
then
an
extra
$1,600
or
so a
year
in
after-tax
costs
is a
visible
and
real
expense.
Second,
having
ripped
up
trolley
car
rails
in
most
areas,
congestion
pricing
would
condemn
many
people
to
costly
and
unreliable
public
transit
systems.
Commutes
in
many
cases
would
be
longer
and
would
still
require
cars
to
get
to
and
from
transit
access
points.
Third,
if
large
numbers
of
people
in a
given
area
needed
to
commute
but
the
area
had
poor
public
transportation,
home
values
would
drop
because
there
would
be
higher
driving
costs.
Will
congestion
pricing
come
to
your
city?
Despite
some
drawbacks,
it's
an
idea
which
is
likely
to
be
adopted
in a
number
of
major
metro
areas
--
think
of
New
York,
San
Francisco
and
Washington
as
places
to
start.
With
improved
public
transport
you
could
certainly
see
congestion
pricing
in
other
major
metro
areas.
Alas,
the
art
of
dodging
traffic
will
never
be
the
same
if
congestion
pricing
becomes
real,
a
loss
for
the
more
athletic
and
fun-loving
among
us.
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