When we were in London a few weeks ago, we noticed something that we hadn’t paid any attention to before: congestion pricing for cars and trucks in central London during certain times of certain days. Our cab driver pointed it out, as further explanation for why our trip from Tilbury to London was so expensive. (Our Uber driver, taking us to the airport, offered no such complaint – and at a much lower fare. But to be fair, our Uber driver didn’t say a word throughout the entire ride.)
Congestion pricing is now being considered by New York City, notoriously one of the most car-congested places in the Western Hemisphere. We’re frequent NYC visitors, and we often get to where we’re going more quickly on foot than if we had taken a cab. Notice that both London and NYC have extensive (and heavily used) public transportation systems, featuring both subways and trains to the suburbs.
Leave it to the politicians to think that congestion pricing is a bad idea:
“US Representatives Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican from the city’s borough of Staten Island, and Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat of New Jersey, say congestion pricing may increase pollution and traffic in their districts while adding another toll for their constituents. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has filed a legal challenge seeking a longer environmental analysis of the program; A New Jersey district court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on April 3. Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, the United Federation of Teachers and a group of residents have also filed suit to delay or halt the new tolls.”[1]
We have a rich history of support for the private automobile, including the 20th-century elimination of trains and light rail in several cities (Denver, Los Angeles, and others) in favor of additional traffic lanes.
Don’t for a moment think that these things only go on in big cities. In today’s news, we see that local developers are moving forward with a now-20-year-old plan to add 4100 dwellings to property on the Durham-Chapel Hill border. This plan was originally predicated on the creation of a light rail system from Durham to Chapel Hill (and beyond!). The light rail plan was scuttled by Duke, when it became apparent that Duke Med would lose money from its parking decks if employees and patients could simply take a train to clinic. (I don’t know if that’s true, but knowing Duke, it sounds right. If someone wants to weigh in and correct me, fine. Be polite.) So, no light rail, no development, right? Ha.
North Carolina is rapidly growing, great swaths of forest land are being eliminated, roads are being built and expanded at breakneck speed, and you’d think these damned people never heard of “Global Climate Crisis.” Yeah, well we’ll suffocate on that dirty air and poisoned water when we come to it. That congestion is all in your head.
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-27/congestion-pricing-in-new-york-city-how-the-new-system-would-work?embedded-checkout=true
Up here they doing “controlled burns.” The entire valley was coated in smoke. I lived in California growing up. We went through three wildfires - one where we had to ride our horses out of it. This felt no different. I saw one of the county guys at the gym. He told me that by “controlled burns,” they’re double-dipping county resources to clear-cut swaths of land for developers. In just the few years we’ve been here, traffic alone has exploded. It’s now like Matthews was when we first moved to Charlotte. (Maybe analogous to Carboro during peak traffic times.) I don’t know the answer. There are environmental ramifications to terraforming.