CONGESTION PRICING COMES TO D.C.:

CONGESTION PRICING COMES TO D.C.: After New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg released a forward-thinking proposal to counter global warming that included congestion pricing for Manhattan below 86th Street, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty raised the possibility of doing the same for Washington, but has not actually endorsed it. Marc Fisher, in his washingtonpost.com blog, argues vociferously in favor:

The need in Washington is clear: The D.C. suburbs have the second-longest average commuting time in the nation, after New York.... Unlike London or New York, a congestion tax here would serve more than one purpose; it would not only control the flow of traffic, but it would also be an answer to the single greatest fiscal frustration facing the District: its inability to impose a commuter tax on suburbanites who earn their living in the city.

I couldn't agree more, and would only add that I would like to see congestion pricing introduced far and wide. As Nick Paumgarten's wonderful recent piece on commuting in the New Yorker illustrated, Americans are losing their time, money and sanity to ever longer commutes. The environmental impact is obvious as well (especially because cars emit more pollution in stop-and-go traffic.) The policy has worked wonders in London, with traffic down and the fees collected going to improving bus service. We need multi-pronged strategies to reduce driving at every level of government, and at the local level congestion pricing seems like a very sound policy to include.

--Ben Adler