I was surprised to see, while watching Arirang news, that highway tolls will be reduced during peak travel times or rush hours. The brief online remark did not say when but the news anchor stated rush hour.
I think this is counter productive.
Rush hour rates should go up, while off-peak hour rates should plummet. I think every one can see some value in that. Sure, you pay more but can travel faster due to reduced traffic numbers.
Even better, from an environmentalist's point of view, would be to reduce the rate for buses (both the toll and the ticket price for riders). This might further reduce traffic, again improving traffic flow.
Or perhaps toll rates are like cigarette prices: there may be a high tolerance for rate changes and so the number of users will not change. Increasing the taxes on cigarettes does not cut down on the number of smokers and increased toll rates may not change the number of drivers. If this is the case, then I suppose then, reducing the rate would be a kindness, at least.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
I agree that reducing the toll rates is counter-productive. And even if it doesn't reduce the amount of traffic, it will generate revenue that can be used to build bicycle lanes or sidewalks. As for smokers, I would put the price up to at least 20,000 Won a pack and put the money into the health care system.
Perhaps there could be a smoking-on-campus surcharge that could go toward hiring janitorial staff to clean up the dropped butts, the plastic shrink wrap and empty cigarette packages - oh, and the horrible amount of spit that cigarette smoking in Korea seems to generate.
Post a Comment