Hi Gary, this is based on a per trip cost, due to lack of discretionary income to pay for
tolls. A twenty to fifty year period is just too long to make useful estimates for. The
pricing estimates are almost always too low, by 40 to 200% percent, for large projects,
and the ridership estimates too high. Both of these factors were in evidence in the Cal
High Speed Rail project. In the case of San Francisco, the study cited, very few low
income people still live in the city, since rent control (another initiative that seemed
like a good idea at the time) is destroying the housing stock and raising rents through
the roof to the moon. Seemingly good initiatives like light rail down Third Street to Bay
View/Hunter's Point are creating gentrification that is driving out the last
African-American community in SF.
Those who like congestion pricing, tolls, and cordons say that much of the revenue from
them will be devoted to better mass transit, but this has happened nowhere in the US, and
in only a couple of cities in Scandinavia. And California, even the Bay Area, isn't
Scandinavia...In the US, the tolls go almost entirely to paying for the tolling system,
including the salaries of those who administer it, the private contractors who provide the
electronic sensing equipment and software, and the law enforcement officials who enforce
it.
If you want to see evidence of how tolls work in practice, drive north-south on the East
Coast. One can easy pay over $30 in tolls from DC to Boston, one-way. If I'm
unemployed or earning minimum wage, how will I pay that? And gas and insurance and
maintenance. I might get forced onto a “chinatown” bus. This will still cost me about $48
one way. Lower income people already pay a higher percent of their family income on
transportation than higher income people. Imposition of congestion pricing, tolls, and
cordons just sticks it to them more. One end result is less social and physical mobility,
and less ability to get to jobs. One can say, well, those folks should just take public
transportation. But shouldn’t they have the same choices as other people in the US? And
many jobs, shopping, and educational opportunities can’t be accessed by public
transportation without a huge investment in time. So lower income people forced onto
public transportation often become time poor as well.
Marc
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Toth" <garytoth51(a)gmail.com>
To: "TRB Health and Transportation" <h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net>et>,
mbrenman001(a)comcast.net
Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2011 2:51:50 PM
Subject: Re: [H+T--Friends] Health Impact Assessment of Road Pricing
Marc, is your conclusion based on a study of the overall life cycle of how congestion
pricing can change land use and transportation infrastructure over a 20 to 50 year period,
or is it based on the immediate per trip cost? Also, if you are citing a study, did that
study evaluate how many of the lower income folks are commuting in from the suburbs, as
opposed to already living within the "priced zone" and therefore who might
benefit from a re-pricing of the trip into the center?
Gary
On Tue, Dec 20, 2011 at 1:26 PM, < mbrenman001(a)comcast.net > wrote:
Unfortunately, congestion and road pricing have economically regressive effects on low
income people.
Marc Brenman
Social Justice Consultancy
mbrenman001(a)comcast.net
240-676-2436
From: "Megan Wier" < Megan.Wier(a)sfdph.org >
To: h+t--friends(a)chrispy.net
Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2011 10:18:27 AM
Subject: [H+T--Friends] Health Impact Assessment of Road Pricing
Hi everyone -
I wanted to share the following report summarizing the findings of a
health impact assessment (HIA) of a potential road pricing program in
San Francisco conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public
Health's Program on Health, Equity and Sustainability as I thought it
may be of interest to the list. The HIA was completed this Fall with
funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Active Living Research
Program. A summary and detailed technical report of the findings are
available at:
http://www.sfphes.org/HIA_Road_Pricing.htm .
For the HIA analysis, SFDPH used a variety of methods to assess
potential transportation-related health effects - including air
quality-related premature mortality, traffic noise-related annoyance and
heart attacks, injury to pedestrians and cyclists, and health benefits
from active transportation – and evaluated health-related equity effects
and associated economic value. The HIA found that transportation system
operation in San Francisco has substantial health burdens and benefits
today. Health burdens are expected to increase in the future owing to
increasing motor vehicles on local roadways and increasing population
densities in already congested areas. However, there are also estimated
increases in active transportation (walking and biking) that bring some
health benefits and save lives. Road pricing, if implemented, could
moderate but not entirely eliminate the changes associated with a future
under “business as usual” that includes increasing populations and
traffic and no new policies or funding to manage the transportation
system. Road pricing could also generate significant economic value by
reducing transportation-related adverse effects and increasing walking
and biking. HIA recommendations include increasing congestion pricing
fees where they can reduce health risks (e.g., on spare the air days)
and investing in targeted infrastructure to reduce pedestrian and
cyclist injury and increase active transportation.
Thank you, and happy holidays!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Megan L. Wier, MPH, Epidemiologist
Program on Health, Equity and Sustainability
San Francisco Department of Public Health
phone: 415-252-3972 , fax: 415-252-3964
Megan.Wier(a)sfdph.org
www.sfphes.org
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