The British are looking into a "pay-as-you-go" model for getting commuters to pay if they drive their cars on British roads during the week. Each car would be outfitted with a "black box" that would be tracked by GPS and mileage would be deducted against a prepaid account. The article says it might cost up to $2.30/mile for a commuter to drive to London.
The really startling thing is since the city of London imposed a tax of about $9 to drive into town, traffic congestion has been reduced by 30%, traffic is down by 18% and millions of dollars have been raised to improve public transportation.
The State of WA is in the middle of a pilot project too, along one of its most congested roadways. Anyone who doesn't carpool can use the diamond lane, but they have to have a black box and they pay a surtax for the privilege of bypassing the long lines of traffic. I know if they made this a permanent fixture in WA, and it cost $1/mi for me to get to work, it would mean spending $50 every day to get to and from work. At that point, even if it would take 2 hours and 3 transfers, all of a sudden, public transportation starts to look darn right appealing.
Maybe Hawai'i should look into something like this, too. I mean, Britain is an island, and Hawai'i is made up of islands. Eventually there will be no room to build more roads; then what will you do? Imagine being able to get from Kailua to Waikiki in less than an eon.
Miulang
The really startling thing is since the city of London imposed a tax of about $9 to drive into town, traffic congestion has been reduced by 30%, traffic is down by 18% and millions of dollars have been raised to improve public transportation.
The State of WA is in the middle of a pilot project too, along one of its most congested roadways. Anyone who doesn't carpool can use the diamond lane, but they have to have a black box and they pay a surtax for the privilege of bypassing the long lines of traffic. I know if they made this a permanent fixture in WA, and it cost $1/mi for me to get to work, it would mean spending $50 every day to get to and from work. At that point, even if it would take 2 hours and 3 transfers, all of a sudden, public transportation starts to look darn right appealing.
Maybe Hawai'i should look into something like this, too. I mean, Britain is an island, and Hawai'i is made up of islands. Eventually there will be no room to build more roads; then what will you do? Imagine being able to get from Kailua to Waikiki in less than an eon.
Miulang
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