Netherlands road tax by the kilometer proposed

[xcellntbuy]

The following article was published online today, November 14, 2009, and may be of interest to our members:


http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.244057bd1b30448115575c2187e68681.141&show_article=1

[74/171FAN]

I think that there's no way a mileage tax could cut traffic jams in half over there.  Congestion will obviously not be as bad due to less traffic on the roads as people don't want to pay but I think the Dutch government is expecting way too many people to stop driving.

[Chris]

Yeah, the traffic reduction expectations are way too high. Traffic congestion in the Netherlands is one of the worst in Europe, and rush hour starts at 6 am and last through 10.30 am and starts again around 3 pm and lasts through 7 pm. There's no serious way of avoiding congestion, what do they expect, people are not gonna go to work anymore? People with office jobs leaving home at 5 am or getting home at 8 pm?

This whole plan is not realistic. Unfortunately, the scheme also allows for tolls to increase if the results are not accomplished. It's € 0.03 per km in 2012, but € 0.067 in 2018, which is an increase of 220% in 6 years or an increase of 37% per year, what are they trying to do, create hyperinflation? Transportation is a basic need and for most commuters on the road there's no real alternative. They think people will start using public transport, but a 2009 study by the central bureau of planning showed 90% of the car trips took twice the time with mass transit, even during rush hour.

Drivers will be charged according to distance, time and location. This means a drive during rush hour can be significantly more expensive in the Randstad metropolitan area than the advertised "average" of 6.7 cents per kilometer. What if it doesn't reduce traffic? Shall we see "91-express lanes"-like tolls? 1 euro per kilometer?

[english si]

Drivers will be charged according to distance, time and location. This means a drive during rush hour can be significantly more expensive in the Randstad metropolitan area than the advertised "average" of 6.7 cents per kilometer. What if it doesn't reduce traffic? Shall we see "91-express lanes"-like tolls? 1 euro per kilometer?

Plans like this have been kicking around the UK since the 70s. The most recent proposal was oddly stopped by the Government listening to a petition, rather than using their legislative majority to force it through. The proposal wasn't helped by the people of Manchester's surrounding area (a Labour heartland) voting to not improve transport, rather than implement a congestion charge that Westminster was blackmailing them into having to get money for tram extensions.

With a Tory government likely to come to power next year (and for probably quite a while), we'll have to wait for the EU to mandate such charges before we, in the UK, serious consider such a thing again. And even an EU dictate might not be enough, giving current Tory policy on the EU...

From what I can see, raising the gas tax would be better at doing the aim (though just as regressive - hitting poor people far harder than the rich) - no one likes congestion and will avoid it if they can - people don't drive at rush-hour for the fun of it, because it's no fun! A per-km charge doesn't relate to emissions - a Humvee would be charged the same as a Prius and there's less of a disincentive for getting the Prius (the extra money on gas you'd spend will be proportionately less of the amount you spend per-mile, etc). Busy freeways would get often get given higher prices, so people are more likely to drive on less suitable, more dangerous, roads to dodge those prices (though paying a time penalty for it). I can not see a single positive for such a thing.

The main reason for these satellite road-pricing systems is to help justify the Galileo system (a-non US military version of GPS, mostly, if not entirely backed by the EU). Doesn't Germany have one for trucks on Autobahn (using GPS at the moment)?

[DAL764]

Doesn't Germany have one for trucks on Autobahn (using GPS at the moment)?

Indeed, run by Toll Collect, used mostly on the Autobahn but also applies to a few select regular roads that after the introduction of Toll Collect saw a massive rise of truck use by "toll evaders", such as the B-4 north of Hamburg that runs parallel to Autobahn 7.