The headline of the Daily Telegraph in London on February 21st, 2007
Column One was: Blair to defy 1.7m who signed road toll petition.
In case you didn’t know some in England are quite sold on what we call here “congestion pricing”. It is something Stan Oftelie came up with after one of his jaunts across the pond. It goes like this: Start up your car – you pay! Drive anyplace – you pay! Go get gas – you pay! How about putting those little electronic monitors on every car in the State of California? Are you up for that? Are you going to still pay your annual license fee? Of course! Are you still going to pay those pork barrel fuel taxes? Of course! But let’s get back to the Tony Blair story!
Does Blair have any opposition to his “congestion charging plan”? The BBC poll said that “74 percent opposed plans to charge motorists by the mile to defeat congestion.” Blair argued that the number of cars on the road will rise by 25 percent by 2010 and 30 percent by 2015 and the roads are terribly gridlocked already! “If you don’t like road pricing, what is the alternative?”
stated Blair. The Number 10 website of Blair attracted 1.7 million signatures voicing NO to Toll Road Congestion pricing in just three days! Blair is responding with a mass e-mailing “if not this – what?” to all those who voted against his plan.
So, how does this affect Orange County? California? How about the Nation? It goes something like this…the detractors of Blair’s plan say three things:
(1) The Road designs being approved are not done to improve flow of traffic. In fact: many times it is just the opposite!
(2) There are few State or County incentives for people to step into smaller fuel efficient cars. In fact, not enough fuel effecient cars are available.
(3) The Public Transport System cannot sustain enough numbers to impact transportation because of poor design and connectivity.
Hmmm, sounds rather similar to what we have going right here in our town. Where are the numbers for Orange County transportation needs in 2010..for Los Angeles, for Riverside-San Bernardino? Hey, they can’t even get an extension of the Car Pool lane on the 405 past LAX. How in the world could “Congestion Pricing” help anyone – except the State Bureaucrats? The idea is to dissuade you from driving? How about this: Make every politician walk to work! After all, aren’t they supposed to set the example? No, Robert Poole has been working all over the world selling his “garbage” about “congestion pricing”. As a old nominee for President once said: “A Nation of Roads!” You can Google that and find out how bad the condition of our nations roads are….but just wait..the toll on the 73 just went up again? Meanwhile, Mr. Blair is planning to move ahead with his “congestion pricing plan” whether the people like it or not!
Hey Ron.
On the radio last night I heard a Brit reporter saying that the toll would be one pound fifty per mile in the greater London area. He said that they have around one million cars entering the city every day. With the dollar worth 48 cents to the pound you can do the math. He went on to say another tax being proposed was a “view” tax. If your home has a nicer view of the surrounding area you will be taxed higher than the guy next door who does not enjoy the same benefits. Nice. What’s next? Don’t send this to Webster.
Ron. Page two.
With all of the talk about “obesity in America” why not park our cars and walk or take a bicycle to work, shop or simply to enjoy the global warming. Not only would the OPEC hogs lose out but the auto industry would sell fewer cars, etc. You get the picture. It would lead to a remarkable domino effect.
In fact we should send a group of politicos to China to observe how they get around before they all get into their cars which will shortly outnumber those in America.
Auto gridlock around the world.
China is learning.
SHANGHAI, China (AP) — Shanghai plans to ban bicycles from its major roads next year, to make more room for cars, official newspapers have said. (Dec 2003)
BEIJING – On a recent “Car Free Day” in Beijing, the capital of China was clogged with vehicles and the sky a drab shade of gray. The sheer number of cars on the roads had made a mockery of the city initiative to make residents ride bicycles or use public transport. (Oct 2006)
(last paragraph)
“It is a public consensus that we don’t have to follow in the United States’ path by building so many roads, producing so many cars and using so much oil,” said Li Dun. “The problem is how to implement the consensus. There are still plenty of city leaders and even some central government ministries that are steering us on to this very same road.”