>===== A message from the 'smartgrowth' discussion list =====
>
>Now, here's an idea certain to delight all the SOMV addicts out there:
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>Pay-to-drive experiment could lead to less traffic
>
>By Jamilah Evelyn / Governing Magazine
>
>BOULDER, Colo. -Boulder is about to embark on a radical experiment
>in traffic decongestion: pay to drive. The city's Department of
>Transportation is asking volunteers in two Boulder neighborhoods to
>have their cars equipped with electronic transponders that will keep
>track of their car trips.
>
>The experiment, which will get under way in March, will fund a bank
>account for each participating household. That account will be docked
>each time the volunteer's car leaves the neighborhood, with charges
>ranging from as low as 50 cents for trips during off-peak hours to as
>much as $2 dollars for rush- hour drives.
>
>The first four weeks of the experiment will be used to determine a
>baseline for each household. Then, based on driving habits during
>the second four weeks, drivers will get a utility-like bill, with
>charges drawn against their account.
>
>Since the program is an experiment, no actual payments will be due
>on "overdrawn" accounts. But, as an incentive to cut back on
>driving, participants will be able to keep any unused money in the
>account.
>
>Successful results of the experiment, which is being funded by a
>federal grant, are not likely to lead to citywide implementation:
>Nine out of 10 residents who responded to a city query about the
>program reacted negatively to it. But transportation planner Debra
>Baskett hopes that it will force people to look more critically at
>their driving habits.
>
>"Once we got water meters, people used a lot less water," she says.
>"We're just asking people to get everything from the grocery store in
>one trip instead of three."
>
>Copyright 1998, The Detroit News
>
Thomas C. Lamar, Executive Director
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