[sustran] Re: 14 million USD cool license plate

Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory edelman at greenidea.eu
Sat Jul 5 05:25:38 JST 2008


Hi,

Paying taxes is one thing, making driving look "cool" is another. Sorry, 
but "green petrol"? "Green license plates?".

Taxes for driving are really "environmental fees".

That is why I am for high taxes based on the "polluter pays principle" 
but against - as I have made clear in this space on numerous occasions - 
companies imaging - I mean to use that as a verb - themselves out of the 
environmental problems they cause. And I think this applies to these 
absurdly rich individuals, too. Obviously if one or a few people do this 
it is not a big deal; I see the main problem that lots and lots of much 
less rich people will try to "green" their cars... oh, wait, they are 
already doing this by driving hybrids.

I mean for this argument to apply everywhere, but please try to convince 
me if it is doesnt apply to developing countries.

No thanks,
T



Zvi Leve wrote:
> Given that people are clearly willing to pay more to purchase an automobile
> (or a licence plate) which makes some sort of 'fashion statement', wouldn't
> it be really cool if someone could find some way to convince people to make
> a similar statement by 'voluntarily' paying more for the fuel that they put
> in their cars? For example, one could choose to buy "green petrol" which
> would have a certain surcharge per liter of fuel, and the proceeds could be
> used to offset the car's carbon footprint (for example).
>
> The tricky part is how to make the choice of fuel into a visible "fashion
> statement" - green licence plates anyone? Ideally the symbolic part would
> even be flexible with the choices that one makes. Feel like supporting your
> national football team this week? Buy 'viva Espagna' fuel and show your
> colors!
>
> Anyway, I think that the idea does have potential. Obviously no one wants to
> pay more taxes, but if people can make a statement by doing something, they
> may be willing to do that!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Zvi
>
> On Fri, Jul 4, 2008 at 11:51 AM, Carlosfelipe Pardo <carlosfpardo at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>   
>> Hi,
>>
>> I read about this issue (link below) yesterday in Wall Street Journal. Abu
>> Dhabi has a bidding system for "cool" license plates (like single digit
>> numbers, or specific combinations). They use the
>> money to build a hospital for traffic accident victims (of course, could
>> also have been used for other more cause-related measures, such as
>> speed-controling measures, etc).
>>
>> Link to story:
>> http://www.autounleashed.com/14-million-license-plate-auctioned-in-uae
>>
>> The article I read is more detailed but I didn't find it online (if anyone
>> finds it, would be great to have the link). I know this is not exactly the
>> Shanghai or
>> Singapore plate bidding, but it's related and could be taken into account
>> as a similar version (as long as revenue is properly spent in
>> transport-related projects). From my point of view, this is "cooler" than
>> the Shanghai/Singapore ones. Bangkok has something similar (you pay
>> more for a cool license plate), but I don't know if it's a bid or
>> market-driven, and what they do with the money... would be nice to find out.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Carlosfelipe Pardo
>>
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>>     
> -------------------------------------------------------- 
> IMPORTANT NOTE to everyone who gets sustran-discuss messages via YAHOOGROUPS. 
>
> Please go to http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss to join the real sustran-discuss and get full membership rights. The yahoogroups version is only a mirror and 'members' there cannot post to the real sustran-discuss (even if the yahoogroups site makes it seem like you can). Apologies for the confusing arrangement.
>
> ================================================================
> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred, equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries (the 'Global South'). 
>
>   


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--------------------------------------------

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