There is talk of introducing congestion charges in Toronto.
Wouldn't it be cool if they could make congestion charges vary in real time based on how congested the streets actually are? We don't have the infrastructure on hand right this minute to that, but the technology exists. I'm sure there are ways to track how busy the streets are. (Transponders? Car-counting devices in the road? Recognition technology in the traffic cams?) They could use SMS/Twitter etc. to disseminate real-time information on what the congestion charges are and post historical patterns online so people could predict whether it's worth their while.
It would also be cool if the congestion charges went directly to building more transit infrastructure, so the more congestion charges people pay, the more public transit options get built. Not sure how feasible that would be because it would make the funding less predictable and wouldn't provide any operating costs for the infrastructure that it builds, but it would be really cool if it could be made to work that way.
A possible solution to that problem would be for the different levels of government to commit a certain amount of funding, but they get reimbursed from the congestion charges. So the funding is predictable, but the more congestion charges are paid the less comes out of taxpayers' pockets. I wonder how the free marketeers would feel about that? But on the other hand, it doesn't have the incentive value of more congestion charges collected = less need for driving.
I'm also thinking it might be useful (from the perspective of selling congestion charges to drivers) to spin congestion charges as exclusivity or queue-jumping or something. There are people who are willing to pay money not to have to wait in line for things. So spin it as a way to keep Those People, Other People off the road.
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