Provocative piece on Saturday in the Wall Street Journal by New Yorker writer David Owen, author of the new “Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability.”
Here’s his point, in a nutshell: Measures to ease traffic congestion are not good for the environment, because congestion is what makes people decide to opt for mass transit, which is decidedly better than driving.
He’s right, of course, although his seeming prescription – just let them sit in traffic if they won’t take the subway – seems a bit New York-o-centric. After all, in only a tiny handful of U.S. cities is taking mass transit much of an option. But there’s much merit in the idea of figuring out how to funnel more money into transit revenue, through such ideas as bridge access fees (well, not in Charlotte) or congestion pricing scenarios.