L.A. may charge drivers by the mile, adding freeway tolls to cut congestion

[Zorro]

For years, Southern California lawmakers have tried to steer clear of decisions that make driving more expensive or miserable, afraid of angering one of their largest groups of constituents.

But now, transportation officials say, congestion has grown so bad in Los Angeles County that politicians have no choice but to contemplate charging motorists more to drive — a strategy that has stirred controversy but helped cities in other parts of the world tame their own traffic.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is pushing to study how what’s commonly referred to as congestion pricing could work in L.A., including converting carpool lanes to toll lanes, taxing drivers based on the number of miles they travel, or charging a fee to enter certain neighborhoods and business districts.

Imposing more tolls would offer a smoother drive for those who choose to pay. Getting more drivers off the road could free up space to speed up bus service, while the billions of dollars in revenue could fund a vast expansion of the transit network, Metro said.

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pay-to-drive-20190122-story.html

[JI7]

1. I would be ok with that but first they need better public transportation

or else it will mostly hurt low income people.

[Merlot]

6. It's going to hurt low income people, no doubt

Unless they come up with a sliding scale based on say, the price of your vehicle.

[BigmanPigman]

2. When my parents returned from a trip to Europe in the 70s

they told us that some places limited driving to every other day depending on the last number on your license plate (odd or even). I don't know if it was to help with traffic or to conserve gas or both.

[Raine]

3. It was during the gas shortage

and buying gas certain days was done by the odd or even number on your license plate.

[Ace Rothstein]

7. I believe they do that in Mexico City.

[Raine]

4. Seems this will make traffic much worse on alternate routes

that go thru neighborhoods, which for me is bad enough already.

[Merlot]

8. Topstreets will be way more traffic

I know someone who moved due to an app locating the street his house was on as a short cut. Quiet neighborhood turned into a traffic nightmare.

[SCVDem]

5. Screw this idea!

We paid for the roads in many ways and now you want to add more?

Do you really want a revolution?

Only the rich can drive! Kinda like Mexico

[lpbk2713]

9. This is a regressive tax.

It will cost people more to get to their shitty McJobs.

[Caliman73]

10. Bad idea. Public Transportation in L.A. County has always been pretty horrible.

Like J17 said, they need to invest in better public transportation before starting to tax people for driving. The whole layout of the county makes it impossible for people not to use their cars. Poorly planned, pushing out into the dessert, and crappy public transportation. I know people who lived in Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana, even Redlands who commuted to L.A. for work because out in San Bernardino there are miles upon miles of tract houses and little industry to support them.

[IcyPeas]

11. It's a little thing, but

I really think that if more companies staggered working hours it would alleviate some traffic congestion. Why is 9:00 the standard time to get to work? Example, downtown Los angeles... you have tens of thousands of people trying to get there at 9:00. Why not some at 8:30, 9:00, 9:30?

Just my 2 cents.

[williesgirl]

12. That's already happened on I66 inside the Beltway during rush.

[Sgent]

13. How about

keep the carpool lanes free, and charge tolls to non-carpooling people? This will help (not eliminate) the regressive nature of tolls while still eliminating a lot of traffic.

[ansible]

14. Hah! I'd love to see them try that in the Bay Area

Would be fun to see the reactions

[DFW]

15. Good luck with that in L.A.

If they made half the cars there disappear in a puff of smoke, their streets would STILL be clogged.

Besides, the clog ups at the toll collection locations would back up for miles. I don't know what it would take for there to be a good system of mass transportation in the L.A. area, but whoever comes up with a decent idea deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.

Here in Europe, we have decent mass transportation in most metro areas, and it is still a nightmare trying to get into Paris, London, Brussels, Frankfurt or even smaller places like Zürich or Utrecht by car in the morning.