Solution: Toll roads.
If anything I see this as a remarkable step forward for equality.
Lastly, I don't think that it's fair to call this a step forward for equality, as free parking throughout town is a tax on everyone who doesn't own a vehicle, or takes public transit, paid out to those wealthy enough to afford cars and their own parking spots at home.
Poor people already don't drive in NYC because it is already too expensive for them, so it is disingenuous to suggest that they are being shafted by making it more expensive.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/20/nyregion/subways-new-york...
I think congestion pricing in NYC is inevitable, I just hope we also get more funding and competent management and contracting reform for public transport.
congestion taxes need to be regional, not per-road.
However, people don't have perfect information so how would you coordinate millions of drivers about their different driving paths and their various costs? Not everyone has smartphones running GPS all the time.
Congestion pricing is like trying to put out an oil fire by pouring water on it. And then charging the poor 15% of their paycheck for the water.
The primary reason there is congestion is that where people live and where people work are too far apart, i.e. there isn't enough housing near the jobs. Solve that and there is no congestion. Don't solve it and every other solution will be a new problem.
You can't get people to take a bus to a place the bus doesn't go, and you can't build mass transit from everywhere to everywhere across a thousand square miles of sprawl.
You can build multi-story housing near multi-story offices, and build both next to subway stations.
That was a real fun session of The Lege.
2011 Austin was amazing. Traffic wasn't the best but it didn't ruin my day. I'd go out and listen to bands at least a few times a week. Now everything's an hour minimum. Need a hose from Home Depot 3 miles away? 2 hours. I don't want to leave my house. I can't figure out if it's because I'm getting older and saltier or if the town has actually changed that much.
Where are you going? Also seeing Austin pop up as some amazing place to live in every HN thread is just weird. I stay out of those because maybe it is just my experience but this place is nothing like it was when I first came here. The city council being vehemently anti-density means there are NO townhouses or duplexes in the city (they were illegal until 2016 because of SFH minimum lot laws, every SFH had to be on a 5700sqft lot). It's synthesized real estate scarcity. Houston and Dallas are the polar opposite. I can buy an incredible townhouse in Deep Ellum with a roof top patio, 3/3, year old for less than my old crappy house here 12 miles from downtown.
I'm in the middle of transitioning back to my hometown of Indianapolis. Worse roads, less of a music scene, but the cost of living is much more tolerable...and it's my home. It's where I want to be right now.
Funnily enough, I agree 200% with what you said about Houston and Dallas. Austinites LOVE to hate on those two cities, but...at least it seems like they've figured out how to actually be cities.