Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
How To Cut Road Traffic By Half.
We're all (pretty much ) agreed that we need to cut down on private car usage.
But how ? It's just too tempting to use the car to nip down to Sainsbury's, and I've been known to drive to Turnpike Lane tube " in case it's raining when I get back ".
I'm instinctively against regulating people's behaviour by statute and hate the way our masters try to modify social behaviour by charging more and more for it ( just keeping this side of losing tax revenue by actually persuading people to give up the antisocial habit ).
How about rationing fuel (petrol/diesel )? Not by price, but by issuing smart cards that allow the purchase of only so much fuel per year.
Set the ration to half what an average driver uses per year (say enough for 4000 miles per year ). Then private car usage would automatically fall by half, gas guzzlers would be able to travel less far and owners of fuel-efficient cars and people driving efficiently would benefit from having more annual miles available.
Then I have a choice - I can take the bus to Sainsbury's; I can take an umbrella to the tube; and thereby save my petrol allowance for journeys where I really need the car. But it's still MY CHOICE as to how I use my allowance. There would probably need to be flexibility in the actual amount of the ration to allow for disabled people and others who need to use their cars more than the average, but if the ration were tied into the national ID card scheme (which is going to come - have no doubt about that ) then this could easily be done and would stop people selling their ration card.
Brilliant idea or what ?
"What" probably :-)
But how ? It's just too tempting to use the car to nip down to Sainsbury's, and I've been known to drive to Turnpike Lane tube " in case it's raining when I get back ".
I'm instinctively against regulating people's behaviour by statute and hate the way our masters try to modify social behaviour by charging more and more for it ( just keeping this side of losing tax revenue by actually persuading people to give up the antisocial habit ).
How about rationing fuel (petrol/diesel )? Not by price, but by issuing smart cards that allow the purchase of only so much fuel per year.
Set the ration to half what an average driver uses per year (say enough for 4000 miles per year ). Then private car usage would automatically fall by half, gas guzzlers would be able to travel less far and owners of fuel-efficient cars and people driving efficiently would benefit from having more annual miles available.
Then I have a choice - I can take the bus to Sainsbury's; I can take an umbrella to the tube; and thereby save my petrol allowance for journeys where I really need the car. But it's still MY CHOICE as to how I use my allowance. There would probably need to be flexibility in the actual amount of the ration to allow for disabled people and others who need to use their cars more than the average, but if the ration were tied into the national ID card scheme (which is going to come - have no doubt about that ) then this could easily be done and would stop people selling their ration card.
Brilliant idea or what ?
"What" probably :-)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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Ok, I can see some tricky areas already -
Multi-person households with only one car - maybe link ration to vehicle registration so only one card per car ?
But then they would buy a second car only to get the second ration and leave the second one parked outside the house - hmmm
Foreign tourists coming into the country by car -
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Permalink Reply by Danzigger on
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I think it is brilliant, in principle. Obviously needs refining. Along with the issues you've noted, I can imagine a lot of people nipping over the channel to fill up their tanks, and a huge market in bootleg petrol.
How about somehow limiting annual mileage? Could it be tied in with the MOT, and a charge could be levied for every mile driven in excess of a given allowance?
I shall think a bit more about this....
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Well I really want to get away from the idea of controlling behaviour by charging. Hurts the poor and doesn't bother the rich.
And the MOT applies only to cars over 3 years old - again doesn't touch the rich who can afford new cars.
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Permalink Reply by Anthony on
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I don't agree with applying it to cars, it should be to people. If someone wants to run two cars then fine but then you'll have half the amount for each.
The economic principle here is to charge (or ration) people for the impact they are making on others by their activities. This is behind the carbon credits scheme (and again the arguement as to given or paid for credits is open) where if you use CO2 there will be a cost to the earth for that (be it flooding, acid rain etc). For car users there is both the cost to the earth and also to other users (this is what the congestion charge is trying to charge for) so you would expect the charge/ration to reflect the damage they do to others, whether they realise it or not.
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It IS applied to people Anthony. But worry was say a couple living together would each have a card so a couple would have twice the milage of a single person and would be able to use the car as much as they do now - so no reduction in milage. If it's restricted to one card per person AND per vehicle it might work.
You must know that the carbon credits scheme is a huge sham - rich countries / companies etc buy credits from poor countries. But does that reduce carbon footprint? They still produce as much CO2. It just makes it more expensive which is passed on to the consumer.
And the congestion charge in London hasn't worked - it's just as congested as before but more expensive. Rationing by price is immoral.
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OK Tom, fair enough. I've seen figures that say different, but it was irrelevant to my main suggestion anyway and I shouldn't have introduced it as it's just going to be a distraction.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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PCAs or Personal Carbon Allowances is something this government has looked into in quite some depth but, I believe it has quietly been shelved because Daily Mail readers would hit the roof. PCAs cover not just your car but absolutely everything carbon related so, home energy use as well. It would operate similar to a credit card system. More here. (Oxford University research. Pdf file which is only 5pgs).
Or, Defra link.
Both are very informative links.
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Looks as if someone thought of my idea already Matt, although mine is limited to reducing traffic density. The Oxford Report still offends me in that the poor can sell their allowances to the rich. How does that reduce global carbon usage ?
Where everything has a (monetary) price what happens to the things we deem to be priceless ?
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I agree with John in that a system which allows the rich to buy privileges is unfair. Could the scheme not be configured so that people using less than their allocation receive a tax break?
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Danzigger, interesting idea.
Regards poor versus rich, that's the reality which policy makers have to deal with. The allowance for each individual reduces over time, therefore reducing the UK's overall carbon footprint. That's the idea behind it. Working out the level of allowance in the first place is the politically tricky bit.
Energy intensive industries already use this system of carbon trading via the EU. They gave the allowances away at first but the permits are now traded via the city. It you google for info you'll find the current price per tonne.
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John D, clearly we now need two Wightman Road bus routes - one to Sainsbury's, one to Stroud Green/Finsbury Pk stn. No umbrella required.
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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Thanks for the prod Everard...
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