Sunday, January 19, 2020

Cars get unfair share of [expensive] public space

Let’s not start with cars, but let’s begin with public property, the public road. Traffic is a space issue: there are too many cars in the limited space of the road at a particular time of the day. Because cars clog up the roads, more efficient and more sociable modes of transport, such as buses and more environmentally-friendly modes of transport such as cycling are crowded out. Even where there are bus lanes, the needs of cars on the cramped roads interfere with the buses, playing havoc with timetables and undermining the service. 
A good way to look at this issue is through the lens of property rights or the lack of them. Roads at rush hours are desired by drivers the same way houses with sea views are desired by home owners.
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/david-mcwilliams-introduce-a-congestion-charge-and-make-public-transport-free-1.4141971?