Cities restricting use of polluting cars

[Phantom]

Charge more in a purchase tax on the car when it is new if it pollutes more per gallon and increase the tax per gallon that will effectively do the same thing with out

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by Varn

This plan sounds like an elitist way of keeping poorer people out of the central city.

Not the poor, just the cars, or the most polluting ones. Notice, this is done only in cities that have a good public transport system and Park&Ride lots at the city limits. Less cars in the center, by taxing all of them (London) or just the most polluting ones (Germany), not only improves air quality (reduction of health expenses - finansed from taxes), but also improves public transport transit times, making it an even better option. In some cases, the money from the taxes is invested in making the transport system even better.

Even without taxes, a 90-day public trans ticket here costs less than one full tank of fuel. Most people I know fill up once a week.

Originally Posted by Phantom

Charge more in a purchase tax on the car when it is new if it pollutes more per gallon and increase the tax per gallon that will effectively do the same thing with out

It's not just about taxing the polluting vehicles, it's also about keeping them out of the most congested areas. The more a car pollutes, the worse it is for the environment and for people.

I believe that cars should be taxed and/or not permitted into certain areas based on how dirty their emissions are, this should help people make cleaner decisions when buying/repairing their vehicles. But I also believe in taxing fuel, as this should be an incentive to use less, thereby further reducing pollution.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Varn

This plan sounds like an elitist way of keeping poorer people out of the central city.

The results in London were / are that the rich people happily drive their big SUV or other fancy gasguzzler into the city - or even bought an exempted Prius .
Meanwhile Mr & Mrs Doe were shoehorned into the busses and on the underground ...

The scheme was generating far too little money - as a lot went into running the ploy - so the area got expanded.


Similar things happen when cities alternatingly limit access to even or odd plates. Those rich enough buy new cars with custom licence plates so they have an even and an odd numbered car ...

[Piwoslaw]

But if the money flows where it should, then the rich SUV drivers are funding cheaper tickets for everyone else.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

But if the money flows where it should, then the rich SUV drivers are funding cheaper tickets for everyone else.

If our cat was a cow, we could milk her

In this kind of schemes, the money is never going where it should ...

[stovie]

has anyone seen the article in the popular science magazine saying they could make gas by removing the co2 in the atmosphere and putting it through this process and it would cost like 4$ a gallon other then the price whats stopping them i mean u could have about 25% of our fuel being pulled from the atmosphere and have it that they can better the technology to reduce costs and all it would cost the people is an additional .27 cents

[Big Dave]

The EPA tried something like this in Northwest Indiana in the mid-90s.

Cars over seven years old couldn't pass the tests without thousands in repairs - often more than the car was worth. Poorer people couldn't afford to get licenses.

People were bribing/intimidating test personnel. People were bribing BMV clerks for licenses despite their car couldn't pass the tests.

Finally people simply drove without proper registration. Cops in Gary wouldn't stop a car for no license.

The government finally gave up on that bad idea. As a result, we'll never see another "Inspection and Maintenance" program in Indiana.

[bestclimb]

Originally Posted by Varn

This plan sounds like an elitist way of keeping poorer people out of the central city.

or keeping them to more pedestrian forms of travel.

[Angelus359]

Personally I'd like to see american EPA regulations to limit emissions by the mile, not emissions by the gallon, aswell as having the maximum aerodynamic drag coefficient of all vehicles be .25...

SUVs still could survive, but they would be forced to be more efficient, aswell as their aero being less an issue.

[Big Dave]

Just what we need ... more regulations.