Motorists would they become the latest endangered species ? For the past two years, governments struggle to sow bad nails on the road of the lovers of the cylinder. In Paris, the closure of lanes on shore had put fire to the powder, and then the reduction of the speed limit of 80 km/h on secondary roads, in July, has moved up a notch exasperation. And now the government adds a few bags, with the continuous rise of taxes on fuel and the authorization next by the law of the establishment of urban tolls. What to do to get up in the mass of the dissenters of the car that see it cropped on all sides this great instrument of freedom, fought for by the economic growth of the ” thirty glorious years “.
However, the point of demagoguery, or of conspiracy bobo-urban in there, but a statement of economic without appeal. Not only the car contributes massively to air pollution and global warming, but it does not pay for the damage it causes. According to a study by the Treasury, a light vehicle diesel driving in the dense urban area do not pay, through his taxes, including on fuel, only 13 % of the costs that it generates, in terms of pollution and congestion.
The main concern is social
It is therefore quite logical that the municipalities, whose finances are already strained, seek to create disincentives to car use in the city and, at the same time, to find new ways to develop the public transport infrastructure. This is the reason why cities such as London, Singapore, Stockholm, Rome, or Milan have jumped to the not. And with good results. In these cities, the car traffic has dropped 20 % to 30 % in the first year, and the pollution of 5 % to 15 %.
The measure is good, but the cities will be taking up ? Three pitfalls can remember. First, the cost, with camera systems or tracking…
