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The reports on the need for congestion zone in New York. It mentions the city has the worst traffic in America, average speed has decreased between 2010 and 2019 in the proposed zone. It also mentions to avoid paying tolls in Manhattan, lorries are likely to use the Cross-Bronx expressway, a congested motorway.

The article informs about the difficulties faced by the packed subway cars, U.S. biggest transit system during COVID -19. It mentions that the system is on the verge of financial collapse as reported by Pat Foye, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, with views on the state entity in charge of the subway, buses and regional commuter lines as well as some bridges and tunnels. It further informs about decrease in subway passengers means an increase of more than in road traffic.

This century, mankind may well travel to Mars, but he will find it harder and harder to get across town. Since 1980, the number of vehicles in the world has doubled; in the next two decades, it is set to double again. The costs are mounting. A 1999 study by the Texas Transportation Institute estimated that the annual cost of congestion in 68 urban areas, in wasted fuel and increased operating costs was $72 billion. Anthony Downs, author of "Stuck in Traffic" and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, argues that peak-hour congestion in towns is inescapable. Ken Livingstone, London's mayor, is introducing a congestion charge for those driving in eight square miles of central London. Several European countries, including Germany and Britain, are planning to introduce satellite charging for trucks within the next four years. Proposals from the European Commission for such a scheme, which include tolls for each 10km within a city, have met with much opposition and are being sat on; but if the plan sees the light of day, and works, a similar scheme for cars could be introduced within a decade.

Considers the different costs of automobile driving. California's imposition of variable pricing on heavily traveled routes; Identification of external social costs attributable to automobile driving, including injury and death caused by accidents, environmental harm, infrastructure costs and congestion; Connection between automobile driving and desirable lifestyle; Factors that may affect future traffic congestion.

Considers the difficulty of charging drivers for the congestion they cause. Singapore's efforts to deal with traffic congestion in economic terms; Impact on traffic movement in the city center; Unintended side effects of government controls.

Discusses the use of intelligent transportation systems, or telematics, which involve application of advanced computing and telecommunications to local driving. Information available to drivers in Seattle, Washington; California software company Fastline's development of systems that real-time information on traffic, weather and mass transit based on an individual starting point and destination; Impact of cheap driving on Seattle's urban sprawl.

This article reports on a European transportation project called the Safe Road Trains for the Environment (SARTE) that will wirelessly link cars into autonomous convoys called platoons. The plan would reduce congestion, lower fuel consumption, improve highway safety, and free time for drivers and commuters. Information is provided on platoon technology and the environmental benefits of reducing drag.

The article discusses the Mexican government's traffic control policies to reduce air pollution in Mexico City, Mexico, including its limiting the amount of automobile traffic, expanding the city's bus rapid transit (BRT) network and its issuing of what are referred to as ozone alerts.

The article looks at discussion surrounding the implementation of a national road-pricing scheme in England. Transportation and politics do not mix. Road and rail policy operates on time-spans of a decade or more, offering little electoral advantage to ministers, who are never more than five years away from losing their jobs. So it was nice to see Alistair Darling, the transport secretary, taking the long view last week by restarting the debate on using pricing to reduce congestion on Britain's worsening roads. Everyone agrees that big changes are needed. The problem is not a lack of capacity (most roads are empty most of the time) but the lack of an efficient system for allocating it. A system that charged individual drivers for the costs of increased traffic density, vehicle emissions and damage to the roads would encourage more efficient use of a scarce resource and be fairer to boot.

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.

In-car systems that monitor driver activity, screening out unwelcome technological distractions such as phone calls, could improve road safety. Driving while holding a mobile phone has been outlawed in many parts of the world, but there are other distractions to worry about in a modern car. Navigation systems, traffic-information alerts and in-car entertainment systems mean that drivers are increasingly bombarded with digital distractions that threaten their safety and that of others. The technological solution of carmakers is to monitor the driver's activity and assess the complexity of the current manoeuvre. One such system, called Comunicar, is being developed by a consortium that includes DaimlerChrysler, Volvo and other carmakers and is funded by the European Commission. Another experimental system, developed by BMW and Robert Bosch, a German engineering and electronics firm, uses satellite positioning to compare the location of the car with a built-in database of road junctions. Both systems have been road tested and appear to reduce driver workload.

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.

The article reports that the great advantage of having a former chief secretary to the Treasury as transport secretary is that he knows a thing or two about raising money. This week economist John MacGregor launched a debate on a scheme which could, in the medium term, turn Great Britain's motorways into money-earners by charging motorists to drive on them. The transport secretary thinks Britain needs more roads, and therefore wants to extract more money from road-users. Economists like the idea of charging motorists for the costs that traffic jams impose the environment and the community.

The article focuses on 'connected cars,' which are automobiles that can connect with other automobiles wirelessly. Topics include the development of traffic management systems, the placement of on-board sensors in connected automobiles, and the creation of smart motorways, which smooths the flow of traffic.

The article discusses traffic patterns and says that as more drivers begin to use information about traffic flows, it may actually cause more traffic problems. Drivers typically switch routes if they find that one is moving slowly, but when too many drivers switch, the second route becomes slower than the first, and many go back to their first route. This is called Nash equilibrium. Some researchers have found that closing certain roads actually made traffic flow faster.

This article presents a letter to the editor in response to an article entitled "Joining the rotary club," published in the November 11, 2006 issue.

This article presents a letter to the editor in response to an article entitled "Joining the rotary club," published in the November 11, 2006 issue.

This article presents a letter to the editor in response to an article entitled "Joining the rotary club," published in the November 11, 2006 issue.

The article highlights the introduction of traffic rotaries, also known as roundabouts, in Canada. It is explained that the new trend for roundabouts follows intensive study by Canadian traffic engineers of their adoption in the U.S. They concluded that roundabouts produced less congestion, fewer serious accidents, lower emissions, and are of use even when power grids fail. Transition challenges are noted.

This article reports on new techniques being developed to spot, predict, and help drivers avoid traffic jams. Systems such as the Traffic Message Channel and the Vehicle Information and Communication System (VICS), in Europe and Japan respectively, pipe data from traffic centres into in-car navigation systems via FM radio signals. Meanwhile ITIS, a British company, is one of several firms experimenting with mobile-phone signals to monitor traffic on roads that lack sensors or cameras. In Redmond, Washington, at the headquarters of Microsoft, employees have been testing a traffic-prediction system called JamBayes. Users register their route preferences and then receive alerts, by e-mail or text message, warning them of impending gridlock. JamBayes uses a technique called Bayesian modelling to combine real-time traffic data with historical trends, weather information and a list of calendar events such as holidays.

It seems odd, as Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory party leader, pointed out this week, that Prime Minister Tony Blair of Great Britain, a man with a view on everything, is the only man in London with no opinion on the congestion charge. If the charge cuts traffic delays in London--and thereby allows the government to get some way towards its over-ambitious target of reducing congestion by 6% by the end of the decade--ministers will be quick to take the credit for introducing the legislation which allowed it to be brought in. Some in the Labor Party long for it to fail. The plan's sponsor, Mayor Ken Livingstone, always on the far left of the party, was thrown out of it because he insisted, against the prime minister's wishes, on standing as mayor of London. The minister for transport, John Spellar, has never hidden his dislike of congestion charging. But until now, it has not been known that he has actively sought to undermine the scheme. Blair eventually got so fed up with these antics, which were directly contrary to government policy, that he told the then transport secretary, Stephen Byers, to put a stop to them.

Focuses on efforts to reduce truck traffic in the Swiss Alps. Environmental problems associated with truck traffic; Increasing popularity of transalpine railways; Plans of the Swiss government to improve the north-south railway network; International agreement to stop building new transalpine roads and implement road taxes for polluting vehicles; Economic factors in the decision.

Presents news briefs related to Great Britain as of January 12, 1991. Acceptance of the presidency of the Bruges Group by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; Appearance of traffic lines on London roads; Increase in manufacturing by Land Rover over 1990.