Another City with a Congestion Charge
By b5baxter@drupal.org on January 4, 2008 - 1:22pm
Milan, Italy has instituted a congestion charge. It joins other cities that already have implemented or tired congestion charges such as London, Singapore (the first scheme in the world, started in 1975, upgraded in 1998), Rome, Valletta, and Stockholm. With all the talk about Vancouver being a leader in sustainability why are we falling behind the rest of the world on this very effective measure?
Peter Ladner has an interesting post on why we might want to follow Singapore's example.
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if the bigger picture goal is sustainability, a congestion charge doesn't always work, especially in areas with a trend toward suburbanization. changing how people travel without driving them away from the urban core is very tricky to do unless you are on an island (Singapore) or if there is no major alternative to the core (London)
Good points. Singapore used some of the money it gained to create a quality transit system and give people an alternative.
Here in the lower 1mainland commuter patterns have already begun to shift away from the core. Which is why we really need to invest in better transit for places like the Fraser Valley.
If we did a good job of protecting our ALR land our region could become somewhat like an island and encourage a more sustainable design for the urban areas.