The U.K.'s transport secretary considers a 'revolutionary' congestion pricing plan to prevent 'LA-style gridlock.'
U.K. Transport Secretary Alistair Darling wants to prevent "L.A.-style gridlock" on England's major motorways. He's trying to drum up public support for "road pricing," a tax of up to $2 per mile on drivers who frequent the country's busiest roads, to be assessed by way of an ambitious high-tech satellite and GPS surveillance system. Transport experts agree it may be the best way to ease congestion; the political feasibility of such taxes is less clear, though the experience of Old London Towne is promising. In that city, Mayor Ken Livingstone's $9 "congestion fee" for driving in central London has been a smashing success: After just over two years, he claims, gridlock is broken, greenhouse-gas emissions are down, and commuters are filling buses, trains, and sidewalks. "This is the only thing I've done in my political life that turned out better than I hoped," said Livingstone. Is success contagious?
Thanks to Grist Magazine
FULL STORY: Drivers to pay £1.30 per mile
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Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
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