| This is a generic problem that applies to a number of scenarios, including traffic congestion. If there are fewer resources than there are users, a queue forms. People in the queue can be prioritised by sorting the queue by some agreed property and then admitting the people from the head of the queue as resources become available. Sorting by the willingness and ability to pay in money is a very common property. Housing is notably discriminated by the money people can put on the table. Wealthy get the best spots, poorer people have to live further away in less desirable spots. Could this apply to traffic congestion as well? People with money drive when they want, poorer people drive when they can afford it. Money does a good job in discriminating between people in a huge number of services, possessions, and abilities. If that sounds unfair somehow, I theoretically like the idea of a time tax. Everyone has the same amount of time each day regardless of if they make a million each day or over their whole lifetime. It's all very equal and it's up to each individual how they choose to spend those hours, whether it's waiting in traffic or doing something that is more profitable than car trips. The way to implement this is curb down road capacity which also has the benefit of allocating less space for roads and more space for people. Useless trips get cancelled and transferable trips are moved to less congested times, and only if your trip is really important it's worth the wait in congestion. In many ways this is a more equal way of distributing access to limited resources. On the other hand, it's not very useful for anyone to sit in traffic whether you're poor or rich. Especially people whose time cost is close to zero could sit all their day in traffic if they wanted to while people whose time is very profitable couldn't do anything extra, couldn't pay anything extra or make any amends anywhere to get through their trip faster. This may be more equal among individuals but not necessarily the best use of time collectively, to the society as whole. In communist countries short supply and high demand were resolved by queueing, to not much benefit to anyone. In capitalist countries the rich can pay their way through anything while the poor can't often pay anything, much less their way. What other methods are there for sorting the queue to a limited resource that are used in other domains of other societies? On the other hand building large high-capacity road networks that are free to use is akin to socialism: there's supply without a distinct price which drives endless demand. Roads should be considered a scarce resource because they take space away from housing and business which are useful activies in a society unlike traffic which is just a means to access what is useful. Thus, the cost of using roads should at least mimick market pricing so that money will drive people to make educated, smart tradeoffs regarding the use of those resources and their time. And building more roads and wider roads in the first place should be considered in the light of alternative costs, not as a non-negotiable necessity. |