Re: Re:.Yes we probably should look at more sophisticated and fairer user fee approaches...
Author: Max Wyss
Date: 04-10-2017 - 17:22
It depends on what you want to accomplish.
The load-dependent usage fee for trucks is good mean to have the truck users pay for their share of damage they do to the roads.
Congestion fees, as we may find in London, charge for the space you take up when entering those areas. Of course, London has the advantage of a pretty good public transit system, which allows for the normal commuter to not use their cars in those zones. As far as I believe to remember, residents do have a big discounts, an emergency trips can be exempt.
High parking fees are also a way to control traffic; in such situations, residents can get a special permit, allowing them to park on such spaces for unlimited time.
The German language has a nice term "Verursacherprinzip", which means that the one who causes something has to pay for it, (such as the one who uses (public) space to park the car, pays for it). Or, as it was at my former hometown, household garbage ad to be put in special bags whose price covered transport and disposal; you create a lot of garbage, you pay more; you create less garbage (for example by sorting and recycling), you pay less…