What City Observatory did this week
Guest contributor Miriam Pinski observes that getting the prices right could produce dramatic improvements in how US transportation systems perform. New York is on the verge of implementing congestion pricing, and other US cities are strongly considering similar policies. Pricing turns out to be the cornerstone of encouraging widespread adoption of non-auto travel modes.
Around the world, the cities that we want to emulate in transportation have done a far better job at reflecting back to road users the social and environmental costs of their decisions. That’s a key reason why leading cities, like Copenhagen are so successful at moving away from automobile dependence.
Must Read
Worthwhile Canadian perspective: Electric cars are still cars, with almost all their attendant problems. Just as in the US, Canada is subsidizing car makers to make electric cars, and subsidizing households to buy them. The Globe and Mail‘s Eric Reguly points out that notwithstanding the emission reduction benefits of moving away from internal combustion, this policy doesn’t make a lot of sense if we’re trying to build more livable and sustainable communities.
EVs, and hybrid cars to a lesser extent, enjoy a global image that is entirely unjustified. The pitch – buy an EV and save the planet – is just nonsense. Never mind that EVs are still cars that need to be parked. Their presence will still disfigure cities, pushing politicians and developers to build new parking lots, roads and highways to gratify the endless swarms of drivers.
In the News
Strong Towns republished our commentary lampooning the obsession with technical fixes for transportation safety.
