Comments by Alan LaRue Subscribe

On How To Solve Traffic Jams

In the article "Are We Bankrupting Nature", Sturle Hauge Simonsen says "We need a 'circular economy' that decouples wealth and welfare from resource consumption." It seems to me that congestion pricing serves to couple more closely wealth and resource consumption. The introduction of so many toll roads in Texas (and other places, I'm sure) seems to me a way to disenfranchise those who cannot afford the tolls on a regular basis.

In Sweden's case, one or two Euro doesn't seem like much, but it had a huge effect. Unfortunately, what they were apparently unable to answer was how. Did people start car-pooling, or did they stop going into the city? The answer to that question is important.

On Government subsidies: planes, trains and automobiles

I would appreciate some numbers! In my experience, you're correct: The impression is that fuel taxes and tolls pay for the roads. My belief is that we ought to raise fuel taxes and eliminate tolls, so that there is equal access, but say the words "raise taxes" and people get really upset. (I have no problem with private enterprise building toll roads, but that isn't what is happening in my part of the country. The government is building those roads.)

If those taxes and tolls aren't enough to pay for the roads, I would love to see the numbers. It's reasonable for city taxes to pay for the streets in front of our homes and businesses, of course, but one would hope that the fuel taxes would pay for the rest. If that isn't happening, then it needs to be very well documented and publicized so that people will be willing to shift some of that money to other forms of transportation. As it is, people assume that the funding for rail would have to come from the fuel taxes that go toward building roads.

How about a followup?

On Does Car + Bike = A Good Thing?

I was surprised, at first, when I saw the "cost to purchase" figure of $6,811 for the car, because that's about what I paid for the car I commute in. Ah, of course! This is expected annual cost. Your use of an average price for a new car has a reasonable basis, but you assume that everyone will buy a new car for commuting, and that they will replace it in 50 months. My wife and I do, in fact, buy new cars, but only every 6 or 7 years, and she drives the car purchased new. I drive 36 miles to work, and my last two purchases have been 4-year-old models. I've had the current car 1.5 years and expect to keep it for 5 or 6 more; I had the prior one for 7. I think it would be foolish to spend the money for a new car when I'm going to put 20,000 miles on it each year, parking it in the sun all day every day, and this is not an uncommon opinion.

There are new cars in the parking lot where I work, but there are as many that were purchased used. These sorts of exercises are valuable, but they must be realistic if they're going to convert anyone. In order to present a true picture, you would need to include the average price of all cars purchased, not just new ones.