Damage to roads isn’t the only externality that we should be costing in though. The congestion caused by cars is estimated to have cost the Australian economy $19 billion in 2016, and was forecast to rise as high as nearly $40 billion by 2031. In a place even more car dependent than we are like most of America, that number would be dwarfed. And that’s without taking into account the social cost of all the time wasted in cars, and the health and environmental cost of tyre microplastic pollution and the more sedentary lifestyle that comes with driving compared to cycling especially, but even public transport (which typically requires walking to and from the station).
There are a lot of good reasons to want to strongly discourage the use of private cars wherever possible, in favour of public and active transport, beyond merely the cost of maintaining roads.
People really hate this, but demand based pricing for express routes makes a lot of sense for this reason. That effectively creates clear routes for bus rapid transit and emergency vehicles which are subsidized by the high rush hour tolls.
The choices on my commute right now are to sit in traffic for almost an hour, pay $15 to use the express lane (20 minute commute), or pay $2 for the bus which uses the express lanes (35 minute commute).
I mostly ride a bike which takes about 30 minutes, but it is nice to have the bus option for when it is very cold.
Sure. We should do those things and you’re correct. That doesn’t have much bearing on how we replace the road maintenance funding.
Additionally, if you raise taxes to incentise public transport, you should make sure public transport exists first. In the US it’s entirely possible for a commute that would be a 20 minute drive to take hours via the bus, only run twice a day, have no notice of cancellations, and involve walking part of the way on a 50 mph road with no sidewalk.
We shouldn’t sacrifice improvements to where we are because it doesn’t get us to where we should eventually be.
Damage to roads isn’t the only externality that we should be costing in though. The congestion caused by cars is estimated to have cost the Australian economy $19 billion in 2016, and was forecast to rise as high as nearly $40 billion by 2031. In a place even more car dependent than we are like most of America, that number would be dwarfed. And that’s without taking into account the social cost of all the time wasted in cars, and the health and environmental cost of tyre microplastic pollution and the more sedentary lifestyle that comes with driving compared to cycling especially, but even public transport (which typically requires walking to and from the station).
There are a lot of good reasons to want to strongly discourage the use of private cars wherever possible, in favour of public and active transport, beyond merely the cost of maintaining roads.
People really hate this, but demand based pricing for express routes makes a lot of sense for this reason. That effectively creates clear routes for bus rapid transit and emergency vehicles which are subsidized by the high rush hour tolls.
The choices on my commute right now are to sit in traffic for almost an hour, pay $15 to use the express lane (20 minute commute), or pay $2 for the bus which uses the express lanes (35 minute commute).
I mostly ride a bike which takes about 30 minutes, but it is nice to have the bus option for when it is very cold.
Sure. We should do those things and you’re correct. That doesn’t have much bearing on how we replace the road maintenance funding.
Additionally, if you raise taxes to incentise public transport, you should make sure public transport exists first. In the US it’s entirely possible for a commute that would be a 20 minute drive to take hours via the bus, only run twice a day, have no notice of cancellations, and involve walking part of the way on a 50 mph road with no sidewalk.
We shouldn’t sacrifice improvements to where we are because it doesn’t get us to where we should eventually be.