[sustran] [sustran] FW: TfL Press release - Congestion Charge Scheme (CCS)

ktsourl at mailbox.gr ktsourl at mailbox.gr
Wed Mar 26 05:30:24 JST 2003


I am very skeptical about the TfL regulation. On the one side, this is obviously a positive project, since it is one of the few cases that the huge external (but real) cost of car use is externalized. Thus, private car users are taught that this way of transportation has negative consequences to others which (at least) should be compensated. However, from all the negative externalities the private car creates (and there are many of them), only the congestion is considered. So, it seems that the message to the drivers is "do drive, but pay, so that driving remains a feasible activity" instead of "don't drive, but use transit, bike or your feet, because this is healthier, environmental friendlier and more sustainable".

BTW I would be grateful if anybody could clarify to me the so called "congestion cost". By "external cost" I understand a cost induced by an activity beneficial for someone at the expense of another person, without pricing it and compensate the infliction. That is, put simply, somebody is benefited from an activity and somebody else is undergoing the negative consequences of this activity, without full or partial compensation. But in the case of the "congestion cost" the persons who induce it, are exactly those who bear the consequences. A person who use a car in a congested road deters other drivers from using unimpeded the road, but these other drivers cause exactly the same to him. So, both "costs" are compensated. This is not the case at all, concerning other external costs, like the noise from motorized traffic, the air pollution over a city, the hardships inflicted to pedestrians, the greenhouse effect etc



______________________________________________________________________
http://www.mailbox.gr ÁðïêôÞóôå äùñåÜí ôï ìïíáäéêü óáò e-mail.
http://www.thesuperweb.gr ÁðïêôÞóôå ôï äéêü óáò web site ìüíï ìå 6 Euro!



More information about the Sustran-discuss mailing list