Search

The article looks at the increasing amount of traffic congestion in America. What is the price of America's love affair with the car? According to a recent "urban mobility study" from the Texas Transportation Institute, it adds up to $63.1 billion a year (plus another $1.7 billion if the latest petrol prices are included) in wasted time and fuel. Most drivers would add an emotional cost in frayed nerves. After all, who wants to spend 44% of their daily commute--the figure for the regions around Los Angeles and Washington, DC--in a crawl? Most sufferers have no choice. As cities sprawl first into suburbs and then into car-dependent "exurbs", the daily commute becomes an ever more painful fact of life. What, if anything, can be done about it? More public transport? Some of America's train and subway systems have been successful, notably San Francisco's BART. But they cost a fortune. In the end, virtually all the solutions involve making drivers pay. Politicians could reduce that congestion by charging motorists more for the petrol they guzzle and the roads they use.

The article discusses parking costs in the U.S., focusing on the effect free parking has on traffic congestion, the way it influences opportunity cost decision making among commuters, and initiatives in more densely populated urban centers to change the cost of parking, despite its political cost.