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Where There's Traffic There's a Traffic Jam
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2004 11:05:42 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Greg Brooks <gregb () west-third com> Date: September 9, 2004 10:58:32 AM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: RE: [IP] Where There's Traffic There's a Traffic Jam Reply-To: gregb () west-third com For IP, if you wish... Dave, a memo to urban planners:The second most congested city in the nation also lays claim to the third
highest level of transit use (about 31% of the population, tied with Boston).Something's wrong with this picture, and merely saying "well, people should use transit to a greater degree" won't fix it. Urban planners in most (if
not all) U.S. metros make 30-year transportation decisions based on a worldview (or profession-view, if you will) that more transit equals abetter transportation system. The fact is, there are better ways to tackle traffic, but they require political will and a desire to do more than just
buy shiny new buses and rail cars.Planners and local politicians are willing to embrace subsidized solutions like transit, but too few take an equal look at market-based solutions like congestion pricing. For politicians, this is understandable -- who wants to be the one to propose tolls on the public's "free" roads? However, combined
with incentives for carpooling and/or off-peak use of the roadway, variably-priced tolls have been shown to do what transit has troubleachieving: increased efficiency of a roadway for a sustained period, without
subsidies.Unless we're going to embrace growth limit lines (as I believe they've done in Portland, Oregon), tax suburban developers into the ground or take other
really Draconian measures to enforce urban density, the fact will remain that most folks want their quarter-acre of dirt and their single-family detached home. That means suburbs and a primarily automobile-based transportation system, and *that* means we need to figure out how toencourage more efficient auto use rather than assuming everyone will climb
on the bus. Warm Regards, Greg Brooks www.greg-brooks.com -----Original Message-----From: owner-ip () v2 listbox com [mailto:owner-ip () v2 listbox com] On Behalf Of
David Farber Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2004 9:02 AM To: Ip Subject: [IP] Where There's Traffic There's a Traffic Jam From Capitol Hill Blue Ain't This America. . . Where There's Traffic There's a Traffic Jam By DALE McFEATTERS Sep 9, 2004, 05:35 <<SNIP>> ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- Where There's Traffic There's a Traffic Jam David Farber (Sep 09)
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- Where There's Traffic There's a Traffic Jam David Farber (Sep 09)