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
Unfortunately, congestion and road pricing have economically regressive effects on low income people.
Marc Brenman
Social Justice Consultancy
mbrenman001@comcast.net
240-676-2436
From: "Megan Wier" <Megan.Wier@sfdph.org>
To: h+t--friends@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@sfdph.org
www.sfphes.org
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