[Closed] Maybe Singapore has the answer ??

So it's OK to pollute as long as you're rich enough to afford it?

So it's OK to pollute as long as you're rich enough to pay for the harm you cause

FTFY

I lived there for 2 years. Cars are very expensive - it's interesting excersize in Economics what people will pay for something

Dealers charge full list price plus a bit, no discounts
125% sales tax on cars
COE - certificate of entitlement - you have to buy a license to own a car, upfront valid for 10 years. These sell at auction - roughly £20k-30k

Petrol costs the same as in UK
Road tolls everywhere ERP - Electronic Road Pricing or as locals say Everyday Robbing People 😆

There are cars everywhere, too many for the small island but they keep selling. Lots and lots of Lambos and Ferraris which there cost £500k-600k

The fact is the annual cost of owning a car is very expensive but despite cheap tube, busses and lots of taxis it still makes sense to have 1 car if you are there any length of time. I didn't buy one (due to cost) but it was a mistake, try getting a taxi on a rainy Sunday afternoon - impossible.

Personal tax rates are low - max rate is 20% payable once you earn £175k. No tax on investment income, no capital gains tax. Paying a high monthly equivalent for a car is made easier by the fact income taxes are low. Most local families both people work, birth rate is very low as people would rather work than have families so they can have more money.

As above, SIN certainly does have an answer, in that it has excellent public transport and super cheap taxis. It is a tiny place, though, so.....

Oh, and it also has the answer to some lovely food. Wish I could be en route to Maxwell or Smith Street for lunch now...!

It's still Canary Wharf with the death penalty though.

'Canary Wharf with the death penalty' .. Brilliant ! Mind if I purloin that CFH?

"It's still Canary Wharf with the death penalty though."

So no different then?

Feel free. Not sure I can claim it as my own, as I can't really remember where I first heard it! 🙂

They also have a fixed number of licences to control the number of cars on the road. But no, it's not the answer. More roads is the answer for the UK. We've not had a major road building project in decades while the population had increased.

Or don't build any more new roads, allow the traffic to reach saturation point, and then a process of 'natural selection' will discourage those who really don't need to travel, thus freeing the roads for those who do.

OP - what is the question ? High prices so there are less cars, high prices so people stay at home and don't travel, that's bad for tourism and for quality of life. High prices so more tax for Government ?

I read last week that taxes from fuel duty have fallen 30%-ish (£13bn to £10bn) as a result of higher prices. People are driving less (reduces economic activity) and buying smaller cars (a good thing) but it's a balance.

wobbi ... doesn't matter how big your bin is, it'll still overflow at some point

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.04/gibson.html

Hold on ohno ... you can't have it both ways

Rosey - I disagree. There is only a finite number of cars on the road and a finite number of people with lisences. At some point you're going to get to a point where there is enough capacity. Its simple - supply and demand.

There is one problem though - unforutanately because of the way we have organisaed out country into centres of high concentrations of people in large cities and towns, you havn't got the space for more roads - so mass transportation solutions are needed. But outside of the small handful of large cities and town in the UK you can easily improve conjestion by increasing road capacity. We could also do with another north/south motorway.

Or what about this? A high capacity railway line linking the UK's major cities: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Edinborough and a few locations in between?? Sounds like a good idea to me.