If governments can’t (or won’t) pay for proper rail networks, they should at least be able to provide decent commuter carparks at outlying stations for park-and-ride if they are going to consider congestion taxing. The carrot as well as the stick. And they need to provide security patrols for those commuter carparks. Lots of people who could easily park-and-ride won’t do so because of well-founded security fears for their car.

One: move where you live closer to where you work.

Two: move where you work closer to where you live.

I’ve done both at various points, as have lots of other people. It’s not always an option for everyone, but if transport was subsidised less, more people would arrange for home and work to be closer together. We’d have a little less sprawl, a little more decentralisation of business, a little less congestion and a little less pollution.

As it stands, particularly in outer suburban areas, the demand for driving a car to work will be particularly inelastic, that is unresponsive to changes in price, because there is no close subsitutes.

Levying a congestion tax will raake in a whole heap of money, but only because many people have no other option.

What we don’t notice much is that wherever good public transport options exist, there are people using them. Yes, even in the western suburbs of Sydney and northern suburbs of Melbourne.

So — go ahead and charge drivers for driving. Not per kilometre but per minute — or, to promote efficient cars and penalise tanks, per litre of fuel.

But give them a generous rebate for using park-and-ride schemes whenever they transfer to the public transport network at the first opportunity. Let cyclists get the rebate too

“But it’s still regressive!” you say. Okay, make the per-litre charge proportional to the list value of the car. Drop all the other on-road charges, even the import and stamp duties for when cars change hands.

And just as a sop to manufacturers and to promote newer, safer, more efficient models, offer to buy and scrap old cars whenever they’re borderline for road-worthiness or particularly inefficient.

Done.

A magnificent article BK!

The technology for road use pricing is already with us with the electronic transponder used for tollway access. This together with optical character recognition which enables numberplates to be resolved electronically could be used for road use charging direct to customer accounts . This technology could be quickly adapted to road user charging in peak periods across all major arteries.

Not only could such a system be used to control peak period use, it could also be used for differential pricing for heavy vehicles to reflect the cost impact on road construction and maintenance. It could also be used to price access to “fast lanes” at a higher cost and slower lanes at a lower cost, and also for differential pricing on congestion days to discourage road use. I would commend Ken Henry’s proposal for serious consideration, not only in Victoria but across Australia as a whole.

It is unfortunate that Victorian Department of Transport has never seriously considered this option even though it is functionally responsible for both public transport and road construction in Victoria. It is perhaps a reflection of the craven supplication of public sector bureaucrats to the political process which preclude such options being seriously discussed in the public arena, or even as recently as two years ago behind closed doors within the Department when any such discussion was actively suppressed.

That could work another way, make them high enough emission, and you’d want to avoid being stopped in a traffic jam there :^)

And one wonders also if the lack of exercise, and trend toward unhealthy energy foods and drinks is all connected to poor air quality causing lethargy and stress.

Notice how much better you feel after only a day driving out of the city into fresh country air? That can’t be doing our physiology much good.

I’ve even started noting the complexion of people on the tv news from the country versus the city. The former always look healthier - including the fatties from the country.

I am fortunate in that I live closer to Sydney’s CBD than I work. Traffic is mostly light. I see the other poor b_stards stuck going the other way. Dreadful.