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Very worth reading: a Tyee article about the former mayor of Bogota, Columbia, who catalyzed sweeping reforms in the capital city: Enrique Peñalosa presided over the transition of a city that the world—and many residents—had given up on. Bogota had lost itself in slums, chaos, violence, and traffic…He built more than a hundred nurseries for children. He built 50 new public schools and increased enrolment by 34 percent. He built...

Over at the Harper’s Magazine blog,economist and author Dean Baker discusses pay-as-you-drive car insurance. [T]here is one thing we could do now that would change how people consume gasoline. We could switch from the current way in which people pay for auto insurance to a pay-by-the-mile system. Such a switch might reduce annual gasoline consumption by as much as 10 percent, without raising the cost of insurance for an average...

The best-kept secret among transportation experts is the near-universal agreement that variable tolls–known as congestion pricing–offer the only real solution to worsening gridlock.

There’s been a bunchofcommentintheblogosphere today about hiking gas taxes—with the rough consensus that it’s ok environmental policy, tough on the poor, and politically risky (though perhaps not quite as unthinkable as it once was). So it’s interesting to note that Oregon—often considered a policy innovator among US states—is in the middle of an experiment that could eventually lead to a repeal of the state gas tax. Oregon’s transportation department is...

In the US, January 2006 was the warmest January on record–and the records extend back to 1895. So it’s apropos that today also heralded an unusual alignment of actors, all striving to address climate change (and accomplish some other things too). Sweden vows to one-up President Bush’s pledge to break America’s addiction to oil. The Scandinavian country of 9 million pledged to end its dependency on oil by 2020, for...

As big-time blogger Duncan Black noted over the weekend, high gasoline prices seem to have boosted ridership on some of the the nation’s transit systems—which led big-time blogger Matthew Yglesias to speculate that gas consumption may be more sensitive to price than economists have predicted. Yglesias’ take seems mistaken to me.  Nationwide, less than 5 percent of all commuting trips are taken on transit; and commutes represent a minority of...

(This post is part of a series.) Headline from the Seattle Times:  Remove the viaduct even if state can’t rebuild it? Apparently, Seattle city officials are increasingly willing to say that, if the state’s gas tax hike is repealed this November (as looks increasingly likely), the Alaskan Way Viaduct along Seattle’s downtown waterfront should simply be torn down.  The existing structure poses a safety hazard, and without the $2 billion...

  (This post is part of a series.) As Joel Connelly points out in today’s P-I, there’s no guarantee that I-912—the Washington State initiative that would roll back the most recent hike in state gas taxes—will pass.  That said, repeal of the gas tax looks pretty likely, in no small part because of the surprisingly tepid response from the state’s business community, which had previously been outspoken in its support...

First, London started charging cars a fee to enter the city center—a move widely credited with easing congestion and making it easier to get around in the crowded downtown. Now, the British government is considering instituting congestion pricing for the entire nation. Says this BBC article: The London scheme brought in two years ago is reckoned a success in reducing traffic congestion, despite the fears voiced in advance. The daily...

(This post is part of a series.) I haven’t had much new to say about Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct saga, despite the fact that there have been a bunch of significant developments of late: Late last month, Governor Gregoire signed off on a 9.5 cents per gallon gas tax increase, which would provide (among other things) $2 billion to replace the Viaduct.  But the Viaduct only gets that money if...