Traffic congestion

[mhaille.livejournal.com]

I'm mostly including this for the discussion of what sorts of things have been shown to decrease the number of cars on the road, socially and economically.

America's Most Congested Cities
Lauren Sherman, writing for Forbes Magazine

Comments

[ikkeikke.livejournal.com]

Atlanta, for example, saw a 36% decrease from 2007 to 2008 because of government-funded initiatives such as suburban park-and-rides. These allow those who live outside of the city's boundaries to park cheaply in a lot and take public transportation to the office.

Of course, this is in effect subsidizing the suburbs. That's one of the reasons to live in the city, so you don't have to do that.

But, yeah, we need to just jack up gas taxes. They are kind of the perfect tax - very difficult to cheat on and if you want to pay less gas taxes, you use less gas, either by driving less or by getting a more fuel-efficient vehicle. This is, from a policy POV, exactly what you're trying to do. I tend to think the OMG! BUT WHAT ABOUT POOR PEOPLE JUST SCRAPING BY! is a canard - most people I've heard pull this drive a giant SUV so they can haul around two kids. Me and my brother fit fine in whatever POS car my dad had...