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To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
451–460 of 689 posts
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#452Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most of these have to do with inefficient use of land, and ultimately can be aided with the big kahuna of fixes: a land value tax.[0] It would work to push back against restrictive zoning policies (holding costs of land go up), and would create a virtuous cycle of land values being invested back into local infrastructure, resulting in higher land values (you can get transit for free). Donald Shoup (the author of "The…
Wouldn't that create some incentive to move further out into the suburbs or rural areas to avoid taxes?
It creates a trade-off between living in high-infrastructure areas (cities) and paying for the infrastructure directly or indirectly through your taxes, or living in low-infrastructure areas (rural) and saving on your taxes.
A related question is―why do we so frequently build new development out on the edge of a city (sprawl), and why do we so rarely build up development in the heart of a city (infill)? The latter would seem wiser, as the city already has an infrastructure system to build upon. Why don't we do this, instead choosing to bring the infrastructure out to where it isn't?
The answer is related to the lack of a LVT―it's cheaper to consume marginal land for near-free and improve it than to utilize supermarginal land to its highest use, due to the return that landowners expect for it. (For an extreme example, consider why Walt Disney chose to buy swampland in Florida rather than expand his development in Anaheim.) The same payment to landowners is what prevents the extension of public transit: the government may invest in this infrastructure, but the benefits go to land values near the improvements. Stiglitz formalized this effect in the 1970s[1].
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#453LA doesn't have a traffic problem. People just have overly high expectations. As someone who has also lived and commuted in lots of cities around the world, LA just doesn't have that much of a problem. What other major city in the world would you expect to be able to drive 15 miles through the centre at rush hour and get to your destination in under an hour (I'm using as reference Downtown LA to Santa Monica at 9am,…
>What other major city in the world would you expect to be able to drive 15 miles through the centre at rush hour and get to your destination in under an hour It takes thirty minutes to go a mile in traffic where I'm at (West LA, near Brentwood and Santa Monica). Then an hour to go 5 miles in any direction on the 10 or 405. It's really bad.
I think a half hour for 1 mile is definitely the exception not the rule. I could see it happening if there was a major accident blocking all of the lanes of the freeway but thats about it. For surface streets I think traffic dissipates much quicker unless you are talking about a specific choke point like crossing the 405 or getting on the freeway.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#454Educating drivers could have a large impact as some of the issues are caused by the drivers themselves and has nothing to do with the volume of vehicles moving at a certain point in time. If somehow we are unable to educate people which would be the cheapest form of a fix, autonomous vehicles would basically do the same thing. (merging, vehicle spacing, gawking, etc...) Sorry no data to back these claims up.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#455LA doesn't have a traffic problem. People just have overly high expectations. As someone who has also lived and commuted in lots of cities around the world, LA just doesn't have that much of a problem. What other major city in the world would you expect to be able to drive 15 miles through the centre at rush hour and get to your destination in under an hour (I'm using as reference Downtown LA to Santa Monica at 9am,…
London, Paris, NYC and Tokyo all have a comprehensive subway system and light rail covering the extended metro area. For many parts of LA, driving (or taking a bus through terrible traffic) is the only option.
New York's public transit commuters have some of the worst commute times in the country, at 7.5-11 hours/week (45 minutes each way on the low end).
For LA's drivers, even 37 minutes is pretty bad. [1]
Public transit mitigates the environmental and public safety effects of traffic, but the "wasting your life in a slow-moving vehicle" problem is much worse with public transit (even rail).
And no, that time is not reusable for reading, working, etc. unless you're so far out on the line (or your system is so "wastefully" overprovisioned) that getting a seat at rush hour is a realistic possibility. It's just as "gone" as it is for drivers in gridlock. So I'd rather lose less time, and that means driving (or making more money to afford higher rent closer to the center).
If we want to design cities for ideological gratification (like SF) anything goes. If we want to design cities for low housing prices and low commute times, well, the worst case for freeway sprawl (LA) is beating the best case for walkable subway utopia (NY) by 20 minutes/day.
[0] http://origin-states.politico.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazo...
[1] http://la.curbed.com/2014/10/8/10037514/mapping-the-average-...
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#456Earlier quoted context omitted.
London, Paris, NYC and Tokyo all have a comprehensive subway system and light rail covering the extended metro area. For many parts of LA, driving (or taking a bus through terrible traffic) is the only option.
Sure, but travelling on those systems takes a long time. When I lived in London a 1 hour commute was seen as totally normal. That was by train and I had a very direct single overground train to take (Kentish town to Chiswick if I remember).
An hour reading, sleeping or just zoned out on a train is a lot less fatigue than an hour operating a car in stop-and-go traffic.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#457Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sure there's some research on this somewhere, but parking minimums have got to be one of the most distortive policies to ever emerge in urban planning.
Donald Shoup is an expert on parking and urban development! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVteHncimV0
Haha I've seen him around campus.
TIL.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#458Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Problem with LA is that we build horizontally and not vertically. This is an often repeated statement that is a myth. Los Angeles is the densest urban area in the US. > There's a big anti growth movement preventing high density housing. They have been successful in preventing high density projects like the Bergamot transit village(on a rail line too). IMO, this is the root of the problem. Areas like Koreatown and H…
> This is an often repeated statement that is a myth. Los Angeles is the densest urban area in the US. Source? I would think both NYC and SF would be dramatically denser. A quick google supports this assumption. LA is ~5000 people / mile^2 and NYC is ~27,000 people per mile^2.
Note, I said urban area and not city center.[1]. The suburbs of LA are relatively dense.
[1] http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-most-crowded-city-in-...
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#459Earlier quoted context omitted.
The real problem is how impossible it is to get remote work in LA, employers here demand onsite even when it hurts the project, its very hard to get remote work living in La as most employers are looking for remote employees in cheaper cost of living areas.
I have to travel 6 hours a day to get to work and back but my employer doesn't let me work remote, not even 1 day a week, attitude is its hard for everyone to get here and the harder the location is to reach, the better.
Yeah man you need a new Job. Tons of people are looking to hire here in Santa Monica.
Re: To fix L.A.'s traffic, we need tolls
#460The true solution to LA traffic will never happen. And that solution is buses. But not the current underfunded system that barely limps along. A massive number of buses, like 5x the current number. And combined with tolls for cars to get cars off the road. The large number of buses is critical because it greatly reduces wait time between transfers. It also allows adding express bus lines between major areas. But buse…
Why not the subway?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Metro_Rail