The toll road returns
Davis, Calif.--This is truly a creepy presentation, this one being delivered by Kamal Hassan, CEO of Skymeter.com right now at the GoingGreen conference in Davis, California.
The company has come up with $130 boxes that, when placed in cars, lets the authorities turn public roads into toll roads.
"You could price every road in the state" with enough cars, he said. The cars also have to have GPS units.
Gee, thanks.
The company doesn't have signed contracts yet, but apparently toll roads are growing in popularity. Singapore has been putting in more toll roads since 1998, he said. Germany and the U.K. have ramped up activity. Dubai, the city-state of crazy drivers, recently put some more in. Many cities in the U.S. are studying it more.
"I can tell you five cities in Asia and three countries in Europe" that want to do more truck troll roads.
Right now, these cities collect tolls by erecting toll gates, which cost $1.3 million.
Toll roads will cut down on greenhouse gases by cutting down driving and put the burden on paying for the roads on the people who drive the most, according to Hassan.
But honestly, who looks forward to toll roads. On the upside, the box that the company puts in can also give drivers maps and other info.
government of the people can tell the government what we want. I
would bet that the people won't want this Big Brother black box.
Road User Charging could be a revenue neutral proposition and would be more effective at easing congestion that Gas Taxes which have no effect on congestion. We just believe those who benefit directly from the subsidization of private use of public roads should pay directly for them and that government ought to recover more of the real costs of road use.
Gas Tax revenues are also counter-productive to any effort to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Lastly, If Gas Taxes were effective, the US Highway Trust Fund would not face bankruptcy within 2years. Flat taxes that aren't fixed to inflation lose 'buying power' over time and hence, there's a huge backlog of maintenance and infrastructure issues in both the US and Canada.
drive the most, according to Hassan."
Weren't Federal and State gas taxes suppose to do that? And where
does that money go now?
As usual the UK government are pitching this as a green solution rather a fundraising exercise. Shame the UK government are all stick and no carrot - how about some tax relief on hybrids?
Introducing Market forces to road use (and any sector) is the only way to get people to rationalize behaviour.
In fact, revenues from Road Tolls can be used to increase public transit and make Inter-city travel better for these socially isolated populations.
Road Charging reduces discretionary trips and forces people to rationalize their behaviour. Rather than 3 separate trips to Day Care, the local store and the Mall, people will combine trips. It will also force smarter land use and growth policies rather than the suburban sprawl that is causing congestion in the first place.
I'd rather pay to get somewhere quickly than waste my valuable time (and face fines for being late to daycare or missing my son's first base hit) while stuck in traffic.
First, our system is not a real-time system so no one is ever watching your movements or tracking you. It also means we don't offer navigation/maps. This provides a layer of privacy.
We realize some people will not be comfortable having their car's movements recorded. We offer a Pre-paid account, much like a cell phone would (of course normal cell phones are trackable and most people have one but because you get a benefit, people don't worry about it.) The benefits we offer include an end to meter-based parking tickets and enforcement (drastically reducing government expenses) because your meter can be used as an in-car parking meter. We also offer the option of Pay As You Go Insurance which can drastically reduce premiums and allow you to control the amount that you pay simply by driving less.
I worked in local gov't in Toronto for a number of years and Skymeter has incorporated a number of my concerns over privacy. First, we're happy to allow a 3rd party privacy watchdog to monitor our information management. Secondly, data can be discarded once bills have been paid and drivers have accepted their bill (we only produce a record of movements if the bill is challenged.)
Also, while many people are jaded/cynical about gov't and privacy, we are protected by Rule of Law, Charters and Bills of Rights and Courts to ultimately protect our rights from undue incursion. All Constitutions also allow 'reasonable limits' on freedoms. When we're all threatened by Smog, Global Warming and other effects of private automobiles, I suggest that charging for private use of public roads using a discreet GPS-based system like ours would be a reasonable limit - if we were infringing on privacy which we're not.
I hope that eases your mind somewhat.
I understand the lure, fairness, cost benefits and objective of the product and I doubt your company has any wrongful intentions BUT the government is the government and this product simply enables them. As much as I would like to, I cannot wish your companies product well.
- And HOVs becoming HOTs...
- by mdesiderio December 18, 2007 3:02 AM PST
- See this article from the LA Times...
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(19 Comments)http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-congestion14dec14,1,4838541.story?coll=la-headlines-pecalifornia&ctrack=2&cset=true
I will write an article about carpooling today on www.matthieudesiderio.com