Chuck Holtman wrote: Mr. Anderson asks: "So does anyone have a plan for reducing congestion?"
I do: 1. Convene truly independent, learned, multi-disciplinary, civic-minded experts to determine the full social costs of transportation modes. (For fossil-fuel based modes, this would include, along with myriad other costs, the costs to maintain access to/control of global fossil fuel sources as well as the opportunity costs of our continued squandering on goods and infrastructure that will become obsolete as fossil fuels are depleted and indeed obstruct our movement to a different set of social arrangements.) 2. Price transportation at a level that forces each transportation user to pay the full social cost of his/her transportation choice. For cars, a gas tax would be adminstratively the simplest and probably the best tool; for transit, at the farebox. (If this creates problems for lower-income people, use targeted subsidies; don't subsidize the system for everyone.) That's it. Once we as a society and as individuals recognize the true cost of our transportation system (the gas tax, for example, would be at $10/gallon or beyond, and would increase over time), our whole system would turn around. We would live more compactly, produce more locally, waste less, save hundreds of billions a year in "national security" expenditures that could be used to actually improve quality of life, and, yes, reduce congestion. There'd be a period of great dislocation, but much less than we'll see if we continue our willful blindness until Minnesota is a desert and we're fighting eight "water wars" around the globe. But, since we live in a nation of automobile socialism and only progressives advocate for the operation of the free market, this solution is not one we are likely to see explored. Mark Anderson responds: Actually, I love your idea of increasing the gas tax so that direct costs of roads and externalized costs of pollution are paid for -- it's something that I've been pushing for years. Plus of course increase the amount of the fare box so that it pays its full share. Of course your $10/gallon is absurd; I think it'd be more like $3-4 per gallon. I enjoyed your comment "only progressives advocate for the operation of the free market." If you consider yourself in the camp of the "progressives," then you're the first one to advocate the free market. Of course others have mentioned wild numbers like your $10/gallon that should be added to the gas tax if all costs were to be included, but that doesn't mean they really want to have such a tax. It's only brought up as an excuse to subsidize mass transit even more. In any case, there is no point arguing the fine points of how such a tax should work, for two reasons: 1) As you say, there's only miniscule support for it. It seems everyone believes that transportation should be paid for out of general funds. 2) It only makes sense as a national policy, and this forum is about Minneapolis. My original posting was based on the pragmatic belief that we aren't going to try to approximate the free market for transportation anytime soon. I like your plan, but it's not going to happen. Therefore, we need to talk about the respective costs and benefits of various plans, and use them to debate how to spend our government funds. The Met council web site says there are about 200,000 bus trips each weekday. My guess is 5 miles per trip, which yields 1 million people miles. Add that to the 193,000 daily miles for the LRT, and compare to the 39.7 million miles by auto, and it appears that about 3% of total miles are by mass transit. It seems to me that autos are taking people where they want to go. If we should spend significantly more on mass transit (or even continue spending as much as we do currently), I think we need to see a plan that shows how it can move people as efficiently as autos. I've only heard rhetoric about how we're behind all these other cities, no numbers showing the superiority of mass transit. The arguments sound kind of like those of the stadium proponents. Mark V Anderson Bancroft REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
