Comments on: Congestion charging: The options http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/06/01/congestion-charging-the-options/ A slice of lime in the soda Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:11:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: dWj http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/06/01/congestion-charging-the-options/comment-page-1/#comment-15329 dWj Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:52:04 +0000 http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/?p=4063#comment-15329 Potential peak-time riders are more price-inelastic in terms of their inability to not take the subway than in terms of their ability to not take the subway at the hight of rush hour. To some extent the crowds will push people with more flexible schedules to less crowded times, but not as much as ideal. If you decide to include a small charge to ride the subway at peak times, you lose less (as long as the turnstiles are still there) from charging $1 versus making it free than you do with a bus, where "free" versus "stopping while people, one at a time, put their card into the machine" is a bigger cost in time and convenience and so on. I think charging $16 at 3AM isn't likely to fly, though. The tolls on the tunnels and bridges are about half that, and only one way; at least when congestion is at its lowest, I think you're going to have trouble selling a charge substantially above $10. Potential peak-time riders are more price-inelastic in terms of their inability to not take the subway than in terms of their ability to not take the subway at the hight of rush hour. To some extent the crowds will push people with more flexible schedules to less crowded times, but not as much as ideal. If you decide to include a small charge to ride the subway at peak times, you lose less (as long as the turnstiles are still there) from charging $1 versus making it free than you do with a bus, where “free” versus “stopping while people, one at a time, put their card into the machine” is a bigger cost in time and convenience and so on.

I think charging $16 at 3AM isn’t likely to fly, though. The tolls on the tunnels and bridges are about half that, and only one way; at least when congestion is at its lowest, I think you’re going to have trouble selling a charge substantially above $10.

]]>