Originally Posted by
timo888
Stronger disincentives are required to change motorist behavior: fees to drive inside the city (forgiven if the vehicle is hybrid-engine or non-polluting), parking surtaxes, alternate-day driving to encourage car-pooling and public transport (cars with non-polluting engines exempt).
Whether or not those fees are levied, and how they are biased, makes a big difference to me. If the goal is to reduce congestion, then don't give hybrids a break. In my neighborhood probably 10% of cars on the roads are hybrids.
In fact, in L.A. I am against artificial disincentives altogether. It isn't right for city planners to build a city that can only practically be navigated by car, and then punish residents for using one. Before that happens, I think it's only fair that there be practical public transportation (which there is not), and measures to reduce the population of the city or at least keep it contstant - stop issuing building permits for previously undeveloped land. In town, no more tearing down single family dwellings and replacing them with multi-family units. Punishing residents for using the transportation system the way it was designed is heinous and unreasonable.