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on Friday, February 16th, 2007 at 1:34 am and is filed under economics, road pricing.
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We need to move to cheap/free and regular public transport, with a role for taxis. Cars should only fill in the gaps. They produce diseconomies of scale, build up possessiveness and help destroy the planet. This is all a losers set of arguments unless we try to mobilise those who are thinking this through.
Sorry, no. We already have road pricing in the form of a near 80% tax on petrol. This has the virtue of not requiring a surveillance system, another layer of administration, or the blessing our Beloved Leader. People who don’t like it can buy a more frugal car or, like me, a motorbike.
However high/low petrol duty, it doesn’t reflect the environmental, congestion, or social consequences of vehicle usage. All I (at least) called for in my earlier post was that motorists pay the full social price of their actions, then they could make their own choice – they wouldn’t be forced to do anything.
Road pricing is necessarily a part of calculating this social cost, but that’s not to say that fuel duty/road tax must stay at the same level as it is now (I think it would make sense to greatly reduce road tax in response). What the road lobby refuse to do is even consider these economic and social arguments.
I’ve blogged previously on the dangers of petitions. Having said that it would be nice to get 2 million on this one. Only 1,999,000 left to go!
ROFL. You won’t get 20,000. This reminds me of that Backing Blair petition.
2000 would be nice. We’ve got better arguments, but no Evening Standard to shamelessly push our agenda.
We need to move to cheap/free and regular public transport, with a role for taxis. Cars should only fill in the gaps. They produce diseconomies of scale, build up possessiveness and help destroy the planet. This is all a losers set of arguments unless we try to mobilise those who are thinking this through.
“Vote now”
Sorry, no. We already have road pricing in the form of a near 80% tax on petrol. This has the virtue of not requiring a surveillance system, another layer of administration, or the blessing our Beloved Leader. People who don’t like it can buy a more frugal car or, like me, a motorbike.
However high/low petrol duty, it doesn’t reflect the environmental, congestion, or social consequences of vehicle usage. All I (at least) called for in my earlier post was that motorists pay the full social price of their actions, then they could make their own choice – they wouldn’t be forced to do anything.
Road pricing is necessarily a part of calculating this social cost, but that’s not to say that fuel duty/road tax must stay at the same level as it is now (I think it would make sense to greatly reduce road tax in response). What the road lobby refuse to do is even consider these economic and social arguments.