Posted on 11/12/2008 10:04:56 AM PST by Presbyterian Reporter
British newspapers report that President-elect Barack Obama (D) may import congestion charging programs from the UK. Jack Opiola, a transportation principal for the firm Booz, Allen and Hamilton, was hired to design a program to tax drivers at least £5 (US $8) when entering the city of Manchester during peak hours. Opiola told the Manchester Evening News yesterday that the president-elect's transition team approached him for additional details on the plan.
"I was 'noticed' by key people in the Obama campaign and I have been providing input to his strategy team in Chicago, including information about Greater Manchester's bid," Opiola said.
If approved in a referendum later this month, drivers entering an 80 square mile section of Manchester would be subject to the charge. The program would generate £120 million (US $180 million) in annual profit. A similar program in London cost drivers £268 million (US $408 million) and failed to provide promised reductions in congestion, according to Transport for London data (view report).
Until now, Senator Obama has been circumspect when discussing his administration's transportation plans. Previously, his most specific proposal was the creation of a $60 billion toll road bank (view details). In March, Obama endorsed New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's idea to charge a $9 toll on cars and a $22 toll for trucks that enter downtown Manhattan during working hours.
Hoping to fill the gap with specifics, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) last month submitted a detailed $544 billion transportation reauthorization proposal designed to encourage the new administration to shore up the domestic economy with heavy spending on infrastructure projects. The new programs would be paid for with massive new tax hikes, including a per-mile driving tax that would begin with "proof of concept" trials as early as 2010. The tax would initially be one cent per mile and generate $32.4 billion a year. An extra one cent per gallon in the federal gasoline tax would generate another $1.8 billion, and a national sales tax on cars of one percent would generate $7.6 billion.
"With this historic election, AASHTO is optimistic that the new administration can help to foster the political will necessary to bridge the gap between today's transportation needs and the transportation system we must build for tomorrow," the group said in a statement.
Source: Obama team study c-charge (Manchester Evening News (UK), 11/12/2008)
With today's technology it would be a no-brainer to set up electronic toll gates throughout the United States. Every time you drove through the tollgate, $1.00 would be charged to your favorite credit card.
The Europeans have been expanding their socialistic ideas for decades. Is it any wonder that Obama and his team are looking to Europe and Canada for the best ideas on how to make government more powerful and the citizen poorer?
Of course, only the top 5% will be taxed.
I wonder how much he'll get paid to suggest putting up toll booths.
It’s cold and flu season — and it’s going to cost you!
Cities won’t like that as it discourages business, i.e. how they get their money.
Batton down the hatches! Chain down everything that moves! Keep your hand on your wallet! They are coming to take your stuff.....
Electronic toll gates? Hell no.
What's more likely is that owners will be required to outfit their vehicles with "black boxes" that track mileage, among other things. Such technology is already installed on tens of millions of cars.
All that must be done is to require auto owners to install a "black box" in their car as a condition of registration...or pay a hefty fine.
Combine them with the power to remotely disable vehicles from central locations, promoted as a means of reducing auto theft and other crimes, and, well, you have part of the foundation for a police state.
IBM CEO Touts Smart Systems, Efficient Infrastructure
http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/interviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212001903
Palmisano cited reports that energy grids lose as much as 40% to 70% from inefficient systems and said traffic congestion in the United States costs $78 billion a year. That’s 4.2 billion lost hours and 2.9 billion gallons, he said. Stockholm’s smart traffic system reduced traffic by 20% and drove emissions down by 12%, while 40,000 new users take advantage of daily public transportation, he said.
London was one of the first cities to come up with this idea under its former mayor, "Red" Ken Livingston.
It's not an altogether bad idea in some urban areas. Some densely populated cities can reach a point where streets downtown completely shut down. User fees, in of themselves, are not a socialist idea- there is a place for them in situations where certain common resources (such as roads) are limited.
Dude, we think too much alike.
Don’t forget the proposals for GPS trackers on all cars.
I grew up in a town that made it practically impossible to find parking in the downtown area. Evetually...over a twenty year period...real business moved out of downtown, to the burb’s. There isn’t a single thriving business in the downtown area today...except a couple of bars...banks....and second-hand shops.
In the case of the British towns...it is rapidly teaching folks to shop and frequent places outside of town. It will eventually trigger an event where the inner city is most for tourist only....and then the city will be in serious jeopardy.
My humble opinion of the Obama team looking at something like this...let the cities fix their own problems and don’t get the federal government in the business of car routes.
The best way to reduce the cost of everything is to clear the Washington DC federal government of at least half its workers.
Controlling people’s ability to travel is a BIG part of any totalitarian regime.
Why do you think they despise SUV’s so much and like public transit so much?
And Algore’s assertion that the internal combustion engine should be banned is a big peek into their mindset.
Roads have limited capacity. After a set number of cars, you get congestion, then backups. But the costs aren't allocated properly. If you could pay some amount to ensure that there wasn't congestion, wouldn't you think about it?
HOV lanes are not an efficient pricing mechanism. 4 unemployed guys driving in one car should not get priority over a single cardiologist. Or even a single businessman on his way to work. With pricing for congestion, the road portion could be "purchased" like most other goods and services in the country.
Yeah, we already pay for roads with gas taxes and such. I know, and hopefully, tolls would all be used to pay for roads (and ideally, all road construction and maintenance costs would be paid out of tolls, gas taxes, and speeding tickets).
I used to work for a company in Canada that had a fairly expensive toll road nearby. And guess what? Some people (programmers) came to work at 7 and left at 3:30 to avoid the high tolls (they'd take surface streets which weren't congested yet). Others would come at 10 and leave at 6:30. Again to avoid the high tolls. So people that were forced to work 9-5 would demand higher pay or a shift in hours, or they'd find a job that didn't require them to clog the highway.
I disagree with the way the Manchester tolls seem to be implemented: a fixed price for the whole day seems more like a revenue collection scheme than a realistic way to reduce congestion. I think to reduce congestion, you need to have prices vary throughout the day. And by a lot. Make it high enough to avoid congestion by giving people an incentive to shift their driving times if possible.
Discrimination through taxation.
Wait a minute, I WANT MY PIE!
B-b-b-but Obama is now planning on taxing us. What happened? He didn’t lie to us, did he? And the MSM didn’t help him lie, did they?
/s
The total collapse of the American economy will do wonders in reducing vehicle congestion and traffic.
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