The best way to lessen the traffic jam is to lessen the number of cars on the road. When you register your car, the DMV should ask you what week days and time of day you typically drive. If you chose to drive on certain days only (MWF) or if you chose to modify the time you drive in and out of work with time outside of traffic jam hours, then the DMV will give you an incentive. Either you get a lower registration fee or you can do a tax write-off on all fees paid to DMV. This idea is win win for DMV and the people who are usually stuck in those damn traffic jams.
-- NXM, Dec 28 2002

Big Dig http://www.britainu...e=20&Article_ID=406
[Shz, Oct 04 2004]

Carless days http://www.geocitie...wrongnzcarless.html
Baked in the 70s in NZ but for fuel conservation reasons. [Helium, Oct 04 2004]

DMV?
-- po, Dec 28 2002


Department of Motor Vehicles

Not worth it. Registration is approx. $50 per year per vehicle. No amount of reduction of the $50 could convince me not to use my vehicles when I need them.
-- Marassa, Dec 28 2002


thank you.
-- po, Dec 28 2002


If the alternative is embarking on massive road widening projects, then I bet the payback could be considerably higher than $30 or $50 suggested in the annotations. If you could re-arrange traffic flow such that you didn't need to spend $100 million widening that highway, then you could spend half that paying back the folks that cooperated and still come out well ahead.

It seems like I've read of some jurisdictions in the U.S. experimenting with stuff like this in the form of tax breaks for businesses that allow their employees to work non-traditional hours.
-- krelnik, Dec 29 2002


In Massachusetts they have a program where you can buy a monthly pass for unlimited access to public transportation. If you buy 9 in a year then your car insurance is reduced by a significant percentage. I forget the numbers, but remember it was well worth it if you commute daily by bus or train, or both.

Speaking of Massachusetts… The cost of the traffic rearranging / highway widening project in Boston known as the “Big Dig” is now at $10.8 billion. Admittedly, this is an extreme example, not a contradiction to krelnik’s valid point (for some locations). <link>
-- Shz, Dec 29 2002


Yeah! Sounds good to me. But how about a modification...do a mileage thing where you're charged X amount of money for travelling on the roads at any one time? The cost of travel would fluctuate depending on the number of cars on the road in an area...major arteries and interstates could be monitored by embedded counting devices and cameras. The number of cars would be averaged together and applied to a severity equation based on how many cars per lane at what speed each stretch of road can handle. Factors such as weather conditions, accidents, stray chickens running across the road, etc. would be figured in as well. If a wreck suddenly occurred on a major interchange, the price of travelling would suddenly jump up quite a bit. For unexpected events like that, the last known price could be considered a ceiling for the people who were already on the road system (the intent is to deter, not to punish), but new arrivals would be charged the new rate. Travelling at 2:30 am on a Sunday might be extremely cheap or free...but 5:30 pm on a Friday would be pretty costly. GPS units, rate meters, the whole 9 yards could be installed. Sounds like a plan to me. : )
-- artgeco, Jan 05 2003



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