[sustran] Re: Tragedy of the commons!

[Wagner Armin GTZ 4413]

As with blocking the market entry of a cheap car, increasing fuel taxes
will be met by a substantial public outcry/debate (that we should be
prepared for): Please note in this context the article "Prime Numbers -
Pain at the Pump" in the Foreign Policy magazine:

"Drivers grumble about high gasoline prices all over the world. But with
oil prices at record highs, many countries are saying goodbye to gas
subsidies, making a trip to the filling station more expensive than
ever." : http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3862&page=0


The analysis is based on our report "International Fuel Prices 2007":
www.gtz.de/fuelprices

Best regards,
Armin


-----Original Message-----
From: sustran-discuss-bounces+armin.wagner=gtz.de at list.jca.apc.org
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+armin.wagner=gtz.de at list.jca.apc.org] On
Behalf Of Lee Schipper
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 6:36 PM
To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport
Subject: [sustran] Re: Tragedy of the commons!

Zvi put it as well as anyone could.
The question is whether we break through the cheap fuel  barrier by
accepting more expensive fuel, crash into it and hurt our economy,
panic for a dirty fuel  that appears to be cheap but measured by lung
loss is expensive, or move away from oil before it becomes
expensive...as is always said, the stone age did not end for lack of
stones.

Lee Schipper
Director of Research
EMBARQ, the WRI Center
for Sustainable Transport
10 G St. NE
Washington DC, 20002
+1202 729 7735
FAX +1202 7297775
www.embarq.wri.org

>>> Zvi Leve <zvi at inro.ca> 7/12/2007 12:26:54 PM >>>
This is all just a classic case of the 'tragedy of the commons': free
and easy access to a finite resource (road space in this case) may help
individuals and goods to move about far more easily than in the past,
but when everyone does it there is no space left for anyone. What is
good for one is disastrous when everyone does it (to say nothing of the
environmental impacts of relying on carbon-based sources of energy)!As
this debate has pointed out, there is no simple way of avoiding this
tragedy. Public transport, even if it is free, will not be a viable
alternative if it does not efficiently serve people's needs. Proper
pricing of alternatives can better address equity issues, but this is a
difficult tool to manage - most places opt for simpler methods (ban
cheap cars, apply a fixed charge, etc) which are quite "blunt"
instruments. As urban regions rapidly expand in all directions, it
becomes more and more difficult to serve such large areas with
mass-transit systems. Integr
 ated development of transportation and land uses can certainly help,
but this is beyond the capabilities of many governments. Land use and
travel patterns have evolved rapidly in the 20th century, to a large
extent as a result of changes in transportation technologies. We are
probably approaching the end of the cheap-fuel era (the "end of
suburbia"), so we will need to seriously rethink how we will be living
and moving about in the future....Regards,ZVi

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