I am in ur satellite, taxin ur congestion

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/congestion-tax-for-drivers/2008/06/23/1214073151558.html

New miracle solution to urban congestion: GPS-based tolling; coming
soon (2011) to a Netherlands near you.

Idea: scrap the fuel excise and registration fees, and bill people
solely according to where and when they travel by personal transport,
courtesy of an onboard GPS-based system reporting to a Big Scary
Database of Doom(TM). The more congested a road, the higher the
charge, so the cul-de-sac you live on would be free to rip doughnuts
around until you ran low on what is your now substantially cheaper
fuel, while motorways, arterials and roads in business districts at
peak hour would be, in increasing order (presumably), the most
expensive.

Apparently, this would make people think twice about taking the car
out during peak hour... because, after all, so many of them currently
get up early in the morning and think, "I know; why don't I go sit in
gridlock for an hour?".

When it was the Queensland government looking at this type of
technology to monitor speeding by bikes, this might've snuck in under
the radar; the tax-paying population at large don't, really, mind
their governments wasting money on stuff which doesn't affect them -
like anti-submarine helicopters which don't work and new bogs for a
bowls club on the Eyre Peninsula. This proposal, however, would see
*everyone* paying more and *everyone* being penalised...

....all while encouraging people to drive more overall. If there's no
more excise on fuel, and uncongested roads are free to drive on, the
post-midnight cruise with the boys and the weekend trip to the country
B&B, which are currently being endangered by expensive petrol, are
back on the agenda. More young twits speeding through deserted city
streets and more urban bumpkins driving further on country roads -
modes of road travel which make the biggest contributions to the road
toll.

 

but the thing is, the GovCo will introduced this type of thing and not
scrap the excise and registration, hence double dipping

mh

 

You betcha. Remember the Harbour Bridge which was supposed to become
free.

 

How to lose a debate in three easy steps:

1. Rather than attacking the other side's expressed position,
extrapolate from it and attack that instead (they'll keep fuel excise
and rego, you watch...)

2. Use "clever" derisive labels (every time you say "GovCo", another
public-private partnership fesibility study gets announced).

3. Cite unrelated precedent (Well, OK, it's possible that the academic
who conducted this study commutes across the Harbour Bridge).

 

"Debate" (American English) or "debating" (British English) is a
formal method of interactive and position representational argument.
Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, since it
includes persuasion which appeals to the emotional responses of an
audience, and rules enabling people to discuss and decide on
differences, within a framework defining how they will interact.


I am a little confused.. who was Debating?


or did we all miss the point you where trying to make in the first
place?

or did I miss the whole entire point and we need Smee in here to go
WHOOOOSH?


now, this is asking questions, not debating..

mh

 

Anyway, for a debate you need an opponent, marty. I see nothing
resembling an opponent...


Onya bike...

Gerry

 

WHOOOOOOOOOSH! at the whole "debate"

 

On Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:16:23 -0700 (PDT),

OK - well let's look at a whole heap of other precedents then.
We'll introduce a GST and cut other taxes. Whoops, that didn't happen.
Actually, I can't be fucked. If you can't get the reference, then I
don't have time. Believe whatever you want. My care factor is low
right now.

 

yours too?

must be some sort of phase of the moon

mh

 

Could you point me to the part that says anything about this scheme
replacing the excise and rego fees. I can't see it in there anywhere.

Nah mate, I get up at 6 and get to work before 7, then I leave to go
home at 3:30. Minimal traffic problems for me.

What? They couldn't fly underwater?

I dunno about where you live, but in WA the vast majority of deaths
are on country roads, and the biggest ccontributors are not the Urban
Bumpkins, it's the Country Bumpkins that are dying. Some 60% of our
road toll being single vehicle crashes on country roads. Those country
kids just can't drive.

Theo

 

Sounds like a good solution. Cheers.

Theo