By Andrea Bonvicino
Commuting via personal vehicles has long been the scourge of sustainable development. When addressing the issue, however, lawmakers must choose between two very different regulatory approaches: incentivizing or developing “green” methods of commuting to lure people away from driving, or imposing burdens on those who choose to drive their own cars. A recent Atlantic Cities article discusses the policy problem as the classic “carrot or the stick” decision.
The incentive approach is used by many cities around the globe to create and encourage “green” methods of transportation. As detailed by Citiscope, Buenos Aires recently completed a renovation of its 9 de Julio avenue, which is sometimes called the largest street in the world and formally consisted of twenty lanes of traffic. The new plan replaced four central lanes of traffic with a rapid bus transport system, removed most cars from the city center, and transformed the side streets to make them more conducive to walking. All of this together attracted residents to commute by walking and using the bus system, rather than driving. Even if people are not on their way to work, the center of Buenos Aires is now a much more pleasant place on foot. In other cities, similar incentive based plans were used to promote different forms of transportation, such as bicycling. New York’s Citi Bikes are one such program that was met with immense popularity according to a recent report by the local Fox affiliate.
The stick was more attractive to other cities, which instead penalize the decision to drive. As discussed by This Big City, London and Stockholm both successfully implemented congestion charging to reduce traffic snarls. While the cities’ plans differed (London introduced a flat fee and Stockholm varied their fee depending on drive time), the basic idea was to charge motor vehicle owners just for traveling within the city. Currently, this congestion pricing method is not being used in the United States and Atlantic Cities’ Emily Badger believes it never will. The U.S. does, however, use the gasoline tax as an disincentive, with very little success. According to Atlantic Cities, Oregon is trying address this failure by removing their gas tax, and replacing it with a vehicle-miles traveled tax. Instead of taxing the gasoline that goes into your car, Oregon’s tax imposes a 1.5 cent charge for each mile you drive.
It remains to be seen which method will meet with greater success. Badger believes American cities may never achieve a truly green commute until they impose harsher disincentives for drivers. She does, however, note that success of these laws depends upon the nature of the environment into which it is introduced. Maybe American cities are just not yet the right environment for using the stick.
References
Photo Credit: http://pixabay.com/en/obelisk-buenos-aires-argentina-78243/
http://thisbigcity.net/the-success-of-stockholms-congestion-pricing-solution/
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2013/07/era-pay-mile-driving-has-begun/6150/
http://www.myfoxny.com/story/24919601/citi-bike-immensely-popular-but-not-profitable
http://www.citiscope.org/story/2014/how-buenos-aires-unclogged-its-most-iconic-street