The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Toll is really a threeletter word
Ned Lamont is poised to relaunch his highly unpopular tolls plan, revised to reduce tolling to a rumored 1618 gantries situated only on bridges in need of repair. So what happened to the governor’s concern with traffic congestion? Repairing bridges, however necessary, won’t relieve congestion.
Undoubtedly, Lamont is holding a Tolls 2.0 plan at the ready, including the remainder of his original 59 gantries and his trademark congestion pricing scheme. Likely, he plans to spring it on the public once he’s established his 1618 toll beachhead.
In anticipation of Tolls 2.0, it’s worth reminding our wealthy governor of the obvious: most people on congested rush hour roads are driving to work. So, tolls are effectively a payroll tax. Moreover, congestion pricing wouldn’t reduce congestion, because people can’t be late to work — they can’t wait for lower toll rates later on.
Ironically, there’s a simple taxfree way to reduce congestion, and it is already in use across the state. School districts employ staggered “school bell times.” Preschools start at one time, elementary schools at another, and middle schools and high schools at yet other times. This avoids local traffic jams and optimizes bus utilization.
The state could follow the same approach, encouraging municipalities and major employers to collaborate to devise staggered work days. In the “Insurance Capital,” Hartfordbased Aetna could begin its day at 8:15 a.m., while Cigna in neighboring Bloomfield could start at 9 a.m. and most state employees might be required to show up at 7:30 a.m.
If local school boards can accomplish this kind of system planning, why can’t local governments and major employers?
The Department of Transportation collects, or should collect, the aggregate highway traffic data required to measure the effectiveness of various voluntary plans adopted by cities and towns. Perhaps extra municipal aid might be awarded to the top performing municipalities in a modified Race to Decongestion, just as extra federal education funds were awarded to states which implemented President Obama’s desired education policies under his Race to the Top program.
It might be helpful to buttress the Race competition with corporate tax incentives. Participating large employers might be rewarded with tax credits for successful plans. Local traffic departments could collect more granular traffic data to guide fair awarding of credits.
Simple planning can succeed where congestion pricing, aka “demand based” pricing, can’t. Congestion pricing doesn’t work because individuals cannot make adjustments. Staggered work days work because organizations can make the adjustments that individuals cannot. In economic terms, individual demand is not elastic, while organizational demand is.
If tolls can’t solve traffic problems, then their only real purpose is to raise revenue. Tolls are taxes. To add insult to injury, Lamont wouldn’t even use them to fund transportation projects. We know this because, right now, Lamont is diverting car sales tax revenue that his predecessor dedicated to the Special Transportation Fund.
Unfortunately for the governor and Democrats, an overwhelming majority of the citizenry understands this reality and opposes tolls. The opposi
Ironically, there’s a simple taxfree way to reduce congestion, and it is already in use across the state. School districts employ staggered “school bell times.” Preschools start at one time, elementary schools at another, and middle schools and high schools at yet other times. This avoids local traffic jams and optimizes bus utilization.
tion is widespread and well reasoned.
Nevertheless, if tolls are included in Lamont’s new transportation plan, it is almost certain that the governor will be back with Tolls 2.0. Why? Because he will need the revenue, and because his plan will do little to reduce congestion. So traffic will get worse, even while the public becomes inured to scattered tolls of the 50cent to $1 variety rumored to be in Lamont’s plan.
Ironically, these factors may help, not hurt, the governor. He’ll unfurl his trendy and fraudulent congestion pricing banner to sell Tolls 2.0, likely betting that he can exploit the public’s increased exasperation with worsened traffic congestion to overcome its lowered resistance to tolls, induced by the deceptively low level of the penny ante bridge tolls which certainly aren’t designed to raise meaningful revenue.
Reportedly, Lamont is trying to entice GOP legislators to support the tolls in his new transportation initiative. No one should fall for his con — not now, not in the future. Instead, the GOP should tell Lamont and the Democrats to cut spending, starting with the overgenerous, unaffordable and unfair benefits of active and retired state employees — the latest benefit being that these unionized employees can work from home ... and avoid the tolls everyone else would have to pay.