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The best way to charge road users without the need for any "big brother" and perhaps fallible technology is to put more tax on diesel/petrol.  It has zero implementation costs;  Differentially charges faster/bigger/more inefficient vehicles more; encourages less individualised transport; and incentivises innovation to improve fuel efficiency and reduce global warming.

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by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot dotty communists) on Tue Jun 8th, 2010 at 07:44:52 AM EST
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But in terms of congestion, it's a blunt instrument: If you want to use gas taxes to resolve congestion issues in the urban centres, you'll over-tax gasoline in the countryside where congestion isn't a problem (because gasoline is sufficiently easy to arbitrage between urban and rural areas).

Eventually, of course, we'll have to move entirely off a gasoline-based infrastructure, but in the interim there are valid uses of personal automobiles in rural areas (whereas I am having an increasingly hard time seeing the valid uses for personal automobiles at all in areas where three-story and taller buildings predominate).

You need some form of road-pricing in the urban areas. Congestion charges á la London and Stockholm are one way. Parking fees are another (used in Copenhagen). Simply restricting the available parking space is a third (used in Paris).

- Jake

If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Tue Jun 8th, 2010 at 11:04:53 AM EST
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Raising the cost of fuel dramatically will have a significant effect on the overall volume of traffic and differentially effect more inefficient (individualised) modes of transport.  If some areas remain congested - even after an overall volume reduction - then that is probably a local design issue or perhaps a case for some local congestion/parking fees as well.

I'm not suggesting increased fuel taxes solve all problems, but it is the most efficient way of rebalancing the transportation system as a whole.

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by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot dotty communists) on Tue Jun 8th, 2010 at 12:15:31 PM EST
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