Time Pollution?

The U.S. is all about freedom and the automobile is a key symbol of that freedom. “See the USA in your Chevrolet” was sung by Dinah Shore on our old RCA TV.

In reality, Americans spend hundreds of hours a year stuck in traffic. Very little driving involves seeing the Rockies or wheat fields that Dinah sang about. Back in the early 20th century if you were the first guy on the block with a car you had freedom and probably plenty of dates. But that went away when your neighbors got cars.

What else went away? Neighborhood markets. Neighborhood farms. And good public transit. If you did not own a car, your life was affected by those who did. Not only were you breathing their exhaust and risking being hit by their cars. Your time was polluted, too. You had to travel further for daily needs, and you had to wait longer for transit to get there. British geography professor John Whitelegg coined the term “Time Pollution” in a 1993 article.

Not only do motorists pollute the air and time of non-motorists, they do so for fellow motorists, too. They create congestion that slows down fellow motorists. In principle we can find new energy sources that pollute less. But you can’t solve congestion by building more roads, because you simply run out of space. As Mark Twain supposedly said, “Buy land, they’re not making it anymore.” 

Half of urban land in the U.S. is already paved over for roads, parking, and other car uses. If a resource is finite and valuable, shouldn’t we charge for using it?

Since the 1950s, 86% of U.S. population growth has occurred in the suburbs. Motorists loved the idea of “free parking” in the suburbs. Except it is not free. It is paid through general taxes and increased prices at the stores that host the “free” parking. Non-motorists pay for those subsidies even though they walk, bike or take the bus to the store. The result is “suburban sprawl.”

In urban areas, motorists often do pay for parking. But they don’t pay for taking up space on the streets when they are not parked. That is “congestion” and there is no price paid for it.

Singapore was the first country to start charging “congestion pricing” in 1975. Singapore is fiercely “free market,” and congestion pricing is a free market solution. Several European cities followed. When it was proposed for London, there was talk of rioting or even revolution. In fact, it all went quite smoothly.

Paying the true free market cost of driving works. It reduces unnecessary driving and benefits those who actually do need to drive. In most cities with congestion pricing, some of the money is used to fund public transit. It is a lot cheaper to pay someone else to use transit than it is to accommodate more cars.

Conservative New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed congestion pricing for New York City in 2007. As a true conservative he understood markets. Unfortunately, New York City transportation policy is held hostage by New York State politics.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo revived the idea in 2017, working with then New York City Mayor de Blasio. The only remaining hurdle was the Federal government. In 2021 President Biden helped expedite the Federal approval. New York City would be the model for other U.S. cities to follow.

It was all set to go into effect in July 2024. Then now-Governor Kathy Hochul slammed the brakes on it at the last minute. With no explanation. She feebly claimed she was concerned about the effect on business. Even though business organizations helped lead the effort for congestion pricing.

How would she make up the loss in revenue by killing congestion pricing? Yes. By taxing the very businesses she claimed to care about.

In Japan we experienced the benefits of waiting a few minutes for a bullet train rather than sitting in car traffic. Will Americans ever grasp this?

I am still hopeful, based on this quote attributed to Winston Churchill: “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.”