[tn13]

> Increase the cost of vehicle registration or gas taxes to encourage workers to prefer jobs closer to their home.

Or perhaps impose such high state taxes/ local body taxes that the people simply leave the town, state or even better the country! Just kidding. This is a very heavy handed solution that hurts a lot of people and especially poor, minorities and vulnerable groups.

Roads, Vehicles and Gas has far too many alternative uses and this sort of tax gives broad powers and worse more money to state which will then be used to enforce drug war and other bullshit laws. Above suggestion deeply hurts poor and vulnerable minorities who have to travel a lot for work. This is like shooting someone in chest because breast cancer was detected.

A toll however is a far better solution. A toll applied only on specific routes on specific times will directly change the traffic pattern and will have much greater consequences over longer time.

[Gibbon1]

A toll is a bad solution. You can't just slap a toll on drivers and expect the free market to provide them with an alternative. No do that and they'll hate you and start doing malign things at the ballot box.

The solution is increasing the subsidies for public and mass transit. Problem with lack of transit in California can be summarized by three names; Governor Deukmejian, Governor Wilson, and Governor Schwarzenegger. They represent a 28 year period of under investment in public transportation.

[Aloha]

>They represent a 28 year period of under investment in public transportation

They represent a 28 year period of under investment in all transportation infrastructure, not just public transit.

[Osiris]

> A toll however is a far better solution. A toll applied only on specific routes on specific times will directly change the traffic pattern and will have much greater consequences over longer time.

That's a good point. I'm trying to say that it needs to be combined with additional policies (that may not even be transportation policies) that are all aimed at reducing the NEED to travel, especially long distances.