Hooniverse Asks- Are Congestion Taxes a Good Way to Fight Urban Traffic?

A number of major cities around the globe pre-date the advent of the automobile by, oh, say a century or more. Some, notably Rome, Athens, and Cairo, are more than twice that age. These metropolitan centers were built around the construct of people on horseback, or more commonly walking, and not thoroughfares full of cars and trucks. That has led to major issues with traffic, parking, pollution, and pedestrians getting in the way of cars that has, for some cities, reached a boiling point. A solution to these problems is the outright banning of cars in the city, or at the least in certain especially congested areas. This can be catastrophic to the businesses that try and ply their trade there so something other than that has to be done. What a number of cities have done – most notable London – is enact a fee system for drivers to enter the city. It’s a sliding scale dependent on demand. Other cities, like Los Angeles, have instituted a fee structure for HOV lanes that allow solo drivers in the exclusive and less heavily populated lanes, at a cost. Obviously, these kind of congestion and usage fees are discriminatory and regressive as they impact the poor more than they do those who… well, aren’t so poor. But considering the gridlock, choking air, and damage to city infrastructure from trying to support a volume of traffic with a system never intended to do so, are these the only alternative? What do you think, would you – and could you – pay for the right to get around town more quickly? If you live in a place where such system is presently in place, do you think it’s working? What’s your opinion on these congestions taxes? Image:  TheMoverUK