Alain Bertaud: evaluation

Transcript context

…Is there any good argument against congestion pricing for Manhattan? No. [laughter] What bothers me about the approach is that they are seeing congestion pricing as a new tax on people. It’s not a tax. It’s a way of efficiently using road. If you look at it as a cash cow, it doesn’t work. It doesn’t make sense at all. You have to maximize the use of road, and so you have to price it differently, depending on the hours. I will even go to the system of Singapore. When you look at the discussion of pricing in Manhattan, we are far from it. Singapore, which now is going to price car — not only a different part of the city, different price at different time, but also how long you use the road. That means if you park your car in private parking, you don’t pay anymore. You pay for, really, the use of the road. I don’t think I put it in my book, but I always say that urban roads should be priced like a cheap motel. Every 10 minutes, you adjust the price, depending on the demand and the thing. And the location. And the day of the week. [laughter] How do you feel about congestion pricing for residents in cities? As you know, the Chinese have a permit system, the Hukou system. It keeps people out of cities. At the same time, many millions of people violate the system, but they pay penalties in terms of benefits and schools for their children. So it’s a kind of congestion tax for a city, connected to the number of people rather than a car. Good idea or a bad idea?…

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