Would taxing the Modern Hell (rush hour) turn it into the Modern Heaven (traffic-free cities)?

Would taxing the Modern Hell (rush hour) turn it into the Modern Heaven (traffic-free cities)?

Well, well, well... what'd'y'say? what'd'y'know?

Remember our post Rush Hour: the modern hell?

Well, guesswhat? An alternate solution to this problem and a lot of interesting analysis and background info. on congestion - The Solution to Traffic Congestion-BECKER- is offered by no less and no other than Nobel Prize winner economist Gary Becker of the University of Chicago in The Becker-Posner-blog - a blog by Nobel Prize winner economist Gary Becker of the University of Chicago and Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner.

His solution? Tax access to heavily congested areas at heavily congested times (e.i., rush hour).

I think this is essentially anti-American: a tax on your freedom of movement (WHY was it that the American Revolution was fought again, pray tell?). I did propose on one of my posts that where a car goes and when it goes may have to be regulated and/or controlled somehow if we want to solve the traffic problem, but I would NEVER agree that it should be done by taxation. [STOP!]

As I propose on my blog, congestion - at least in the city of Los Angeles, CA, USA - should try to be relieved, first of all, by good management and improvement of existing resources, by redirection of traffic, and by providing enough Public Parking facilities to get cars off the roads and maximize traffic. [GO!]

To deal with the rush hour congestion problem, I suggest that companies be given tax incentives to have staggered schedules: "If company A starts working at 8:00am and company B at 9:00am and company C at 10:00am, that hour between them would also space out the volume of cars on the road heading in their direction. This is not an Utopian dream. This is something that local governments and local companies should be seriously considering. Just like urban planning needs to start steering away from the grid and the gidlock it causes, cities and their workforces need to start steering away from the rush hour the 9-to-5 workday causes." [see my post: post Rush Hour: the modern hell]

I believe that traffic congestion is not simply a function of the large volume of cars in an area of town, but a function of BAD design (the 405 freeway in L.A. is a great example - See my post:
WHY L.A. traffic sucks #2: Bad (or not exactly forward-looking) design), BAD urban planning (shouldn't we have gotten away from the GRID and the gridlock it causes long ago? See my post:
OPEN DISCUSSION #10: "...mum's the word! Don't give away the secrets."/Thinking BEYOND the GRID.), and BAD management of traffic resources (See my entire blog!).

In my opinion, an economist should be more concerned with this anachronistic, obsolete idea of the 9-to-5 workday and with trying to modify it rather than with suggesting to TAX your right to drive to work in order to relieve traffic congestion. If rush hour congestion is a function of anything, it is a function of the 9-to-5 workday. In Los angeles, traffic is quite passable (sometimes even wonderful!) from 10:00am to 3:00pm, which bears out that I am right. It is also, of course, and unquestionably so, a function of lifestyle: if you can take the bus, ride your bike, or walk to work, WHY DRIVE? But L.A. lifestyle dictates, as we jokingly echo in our post California Roll: You Know You're From LA When..., that, in L.A. "if your destination is more than 5 minutes away on foot, you're definitely driving." Is Mr. Becker suggesting that the only way to coax the public into changing lifestyle is by taxation?

The idea of taxation to relieve congestion sounds to me like an idea more out of desperation than a truly CREATIVE approach to a truly difficult and complex issue. I think all cities and their layouts and their problems are UNIQUE and NO one solution can apply to ALL of them, across the board - LEAST OF ALL, taxation. [STOP!]

I find Mr. Becker's analysis a lot better than his "solution."
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Read Mr. Becker's post The Solution to Traffic Congestion-BECKER
Read the "scientific solution" The Science of Traffic Jams

Photo collage by italianesco: Gary S. Becker on the 405: single lane ahead -> TOLLWAY!! Cough it up if you want to go anywhere in L.A.!! :-)
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