“70 percent of the population in Stockholm wants to keep a price for something that used to be free”, said Jonas Eliasson who is an expert in the field of modeling traffic flow, analyzing commuters’ travel plans and factors that can influence people’s travel decisions (Eliasson, 2012). Who would have thought! People, like you and I, would actually accept the idea of paying to drive.
With the ever-increasing number of residents in the Lower Mainland, it is an unfortunate but inevitable shortcoming that we, as urban residents, have to accept that road congestion is around us. It is the byproduct of development and civilization. Definitively speaking, road congestion is an urban traffic jam where cars, motorcycles, and trucks creep along at a pace of a few meters per hour (Haven, 2013). Since 2000, the municipal government has been increasing spending to ease transportation by 34%, but traffic congestion is still worsening (Metro Vancouver, 2007, pg 3). In a recent study made by Deloitte for the TransLink (2010, pg.4), the study states that there were 1.4 million registered vehicles in the Metro Vancouver region in 2009 and this number has been growing at a rate of 30,000 vehicles a year. It was suggested in another report that Metro Vancouver’s road congestion would rise significantly by 120% by 2021 (Metro Vancouver, 2007, p. 2). Right now, it is costing the city $755 million annually due to congestions, which also induces the environmental and health impacts that are affecting our lives and finances (Havens 2013). In major urban cities, you cannot avoid it. This is reality that you must face every day as you rush out for work, for school, and for errands. We see it especially prevalent during rush hours. You can ignore it, but n...
... middle of paper ...
...r the pollution they are contributing when driving on the roads. Typically, the environmental benefits of road pricing are, more often than not, regarded as a co-benefit to implementing road pricing (Arnold, 2013, p. 18). The bulk of the benefit to introduce road pricing still remains with generating revenue and reducing congestion.
Politically implementing road pricing has been a tough battle, but it is actually believed to change people’s habits. It would force people to take public transit, carpool, or drive at different times of the day when it is less congested. When something is no longer free, people will analyze different ways to use the roads and incentivize themselves to use roads more economically. Perhaps one day, people in Metro Vancouver will look back at the tolls and realize how much time they saved to do something more meaningful with their lives.
If we are going to be honest, the roadways for the state have NEVER been free. We have paid both state and federal gas tax for decades, now, and we also pay various taxes and licensing fees on our cars and our right to drive which go directly to the highway department in order to maintain the roads. Unfortunately, as we will soon see, the monies raised in this way cannot keep up with the state transportation departments needs, for a variety of reasons.
Q1. Congestions on the roads are a problem for traffic management. What policies will you advocate for reducing congestion on streets and highways? Are congestion charges or building a toll road /bridge a better strategy for addressing this issue? Also, how would you address equity issues in the light of congestion charges implementations? Ch 14
public transit networks. But just how serious is the burden of car ownership, and how exactly does
The city of Virginia recently put a tax on the Elizabeth River Tunnel. The tunnel connects Norfolk and Portsmouth and didn’t develop tolls until February 2014 (Kelly 2014). This new toll forces residents, commuters, and visitors to pay a tax starting from one dollar to four dollars. The recent tunnel tolls added to the mid-town and downtown tunnels in Hampton roads are causing commuters and citizens to make some drastic lifestyle changes. Students and employees are considering changes to their employment and the universities they attend to save time and money as a result of the cost of commuting. If the average toll is two dollars a day, then people are spending about 60 dollars a month. What was once a relatively easy trip for many has become costly in both time and money. Because the addition of the tolls have divided the population into those who agree, and those who disagree; the media has played a large role in promoting the argument against the addition of the tolls. The 60 dollars people spend every month can go towards more than a toll; especially if a person is having very hard times. The tunnel tolls have caus...
Various aspects of traffic congestion in Toronto have been analyzed in detail. It is clear that Toronto is facing a serious problem of traffic congestion since it is the most congested city in North America. Traffic congestion in Toronto costs over $ 2 billion annually and it is caused by a variety of factors. These factors are categorized into non-recurring and recurring factors. However, the paper focused on recurring factors which contribute to the largest proportion of traffic congestion in Canada. These include increased automobile use, poor planning and lapse in implementation of laws which govern traffic systems. This leads to the use of many private cars by employees who commute to work as opposed to use of public transport systems resulting in congestion. Traffic congestion in Toronto has various adverse effects including barriers to emergency services, delays, idle time and opportunity costs as well as pollution.
Many of these problems occur because of the United States’ dependency on the automobile. Statistics show that when given the choice, individuals prefer using an automobile due to its convenience, comfort, and speed. Also, it is shown that many households have more than one automobile (U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey). Automobile dependency is caused by underpricing and planning and investment practices by cities (Rodrique). Because the automobile is the most commonly used method of transportation, cities tend to allocate all the money for transportation to improve roads and parking areas for automobiles (Radziner). This causes funding for other transportation methods to be pushed to the side. Also, consumers do not bear the full price of driving automobiles because most road infrastructures are subsidized. This causes overuse and congestion. Congestion occurs when the demand for transportation surpasses the supply. Not only does excessive use of the automobile affect congestion and traffic circulation, but it also leads to a decrease...
The Department of Transportation released a report analyzing three different surveys and studies taken in 2011 and 2012. They found that, at any giv...
CTA rapid transit and express bus routes to manage their budget of a result increased fares.
The most noticeable inconvenience of driving in Miami is traffic congestion. In fact, because the highways are cluttered with a significant amount of vehicles carpooling is encouraged. For this purpose, high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes were formed. Each weekday, a simple twenty-minute drive turns into an eternal wait for forward progress. With each minute that goes by cars advance less than twenty feet. And while the traffic may open up in some areas, in its entirety I-95 remains congested during the morning and evening hours, as seen in the image where cars on the South Florida Highways line up bumper-to-bumper. The cause for such highway clutter varies, but it is interesting to note the difficulty in explaining highway driving conditions. It is uncertain as to whether the accidents cause traffic congestion or the traffic congestion causes accidents. Either way, the main roads and highways commuters take to work are crowded with drivers. Furthermore, I-95 passes through several commercial districts in the lower Miami area. Many large trucks and commercial vehicles, as well as passenger vehicles, drive to work at these commercial areas. The weekday traffic congestions on the Miami roadways are, in large part, a major inconvenience to commuters, all with intent to arrive early to work.
Traffic reduction stems primarily from a decision to drive (Engwight,1992), a
Newman, P. (1999). Transport: reducing automobile dependence. In D. Satterthwaite (Ed.), The Earthscan reader in sustainable cities (pp. 67-92). London: Earthscan Publications.
It is 1am on a summer Saturday night, the wind is gently blowing through your hair and your favorite song is playing on the radio. The stress of your daily, white-collar routine is left behind for just one night – a single evening out with your friends to catch up on the chaos of your lives. You cannot help but enjoy this rare crack in your hectic, nine-to-five schedule; a fleeting moment when everything feels right and you feel free. In the distance, you notice flashing lights. Thinking little of what they could mean, you continue your journey. Suddenly, you come face-to-face with one of the most despised enemies of urban life: traffic. As you slow to a grinding halt, you cannot help but feel irritation, anger and helplessness. It is ruined. Your one night is completely ruined. As you take your place in the endless parking lot that was once a four-lane highway, you realize that the source stoppage is a massive construction project. You look and hear them pound at the pavement with their jackhammers. Trying to control your frustration, you take a deep breath, exhale, and turn your head away. Again, you feel the victim of this deepening social crisis: the shortage of skilled workers.
Traffic jam is one of the most serious problems of urbanization, almost all the modern cities are facing different levels of traffic jam problems. In general, people can ease the traffic jam and not compromise the quality of life by a policy of sustainable development in two aspects including formulating a more efficient transport pattern and changing the urban construction.
OTA stated that based on current trends in population and travel … the number of vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) nationwide is projected to increase by 2 to 3 percent per year from now through 2005, resulting in a cumulative increase of about 40 to 60 percent. Obviously, VMT growth could have a major impact on traffic flow in urban areas, as well as on air pollution (84).
Never the less these problems have arisen and present a very serious issue for not only our generation but for future generations also. Therefore, changes need to be made in Urban transport.