With a tax, of course. London's Mayor Ken Livingstone unveiled plans to charge the heaviest C02 emitters GBP25 per day to enter central London's congestion charge zone. That's about $48 a day to drive your SUV into central London. The congestion charge has been around for a while. Smaller duty vehicles only pay GBP8 and hybrids get in for free.
Is driving an SUV causing a negative externality? According to Mayor Ken in this Guardian piece:
"One in five vehicles is a Band G," he said. "It is the heaviest concentration in the country and one has to ask why people need four wheel drives in the most densely populated part of the UK. People are waking up to the fact we are bequeathing our children and our grandchildren appalling consequences if we don't act."
I tend to agree with this case. I think some US cities might have to start doing this in the future. But public transport networks will have to get better and congestion will have to get worse before it can be a political reality. Some progressive mayor will give it shot though.
If Robert Metcalfe is still reading, maybe he'll have something to say. UPDATE: Actually, he already did have a post about week back about Richmond's plan to charge higher prices for parking permits here. A similar objective, but different policy prescription than that above. And now he's got something about this specific policy too.
Glad to be of service!
It seems that central, and even local government, now has the nerve to implement these instruments because public awareness of the environment has never been higher. There is a political will to do this, and the possibility of making money at the same time.
You enjoying Maryland, or are those Orwell books making you reminisce too much about London?
Posted by: Robert Metcalfe | November 16, 2006 at 05:12 PM