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Bid On eBay To Speed Up Your Commute
malfunct writes "The traffic in the greater Seattle area is atrocious, and the State Government has been working hard to find a way to solve the issue. In the interim, they may use eBay as an innovative solution for estimating demand and raising funds. According to a MSNBC article, the plan is to use eBay to sell stickers that allow access for single driver vehicles to the car pool lane. The idea is to use eBay to find just how much a speedy commute is worth to drivers."
If your commute doesn't improve by much, can you leave negative feedback?
Chris
Seller was awesome! Totally fast shipping! Great communication! I love my sticker and will buy again! A+++++++
In a time of tight budgets, I for one am all for milking those solo SUV SOBs for all they're worth. (Particularly because I bike to work, hah.)
sulli
RTFJ.
Finally a government agency is publicly admitting that a free market economy has some value.
Now if they'd just do this with ALL of our taxes.
Ummm.
I think you're missing the point. The state is trying to work out how much drivers will pay to get into the carpool lane. That is, this is an excercise.
So, they auction (say) 1,000 car pool stickers for a month in the fast lane (so to speak). By seeing what price is paid on eBay, they can calculate what pricing will allow new road building, public transport investment etc.
I live in Central London (in England). They recently imposed a congestion charge. Had they used eBay first, they might have discovered that the "correct" price was £3, not £5 to get traffic down to required levels.
Further, eBay is not a bad mechanism to rationing. Spaces in the car pool lane are a scarse resource (they won't sell more than they have room for... actually this government, scratch that) - why not work out what the right charge is using eBay, not by a fiat (or guess work).
--- My dad's political betting
Funny thing is..
Dangerous driving doesn't get a ticket. Police typicaly are not allowed to engage in high speed pursutes without either authorization, or unless it's in relation to a felony.
Only the +5 to +15 mph speeders typicaly get tickets. They are so easier to catch, and quotas get made much more quickly.
"They'll probally kill them selves" is that I hear regarding super speeders, atleast among police at starbucks. Or "I wish I could have pursued that guy I clocked at 100+, but I hadn't made my quota yet".
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
Possibly because the roads are public property, intended for use by everyone - not a consumer good.
Do you think you should be able to pay extra to have the police or fire department respond to your calls faster than they do to someone who cannot pay extra? Please also explain why or why not.
Now obviously, this isn't the same as preferred law enforcement priviledges, but it's still letting certain people pay to break the rules.
In Western Washington? HAH! You must not be from Seattle, my friend.
One would think that would be a viable solution..like the time the constituency voted against building a new Kingdome, but it was built anyway. Or the time there was a referendum to see if bridge parallel to the Tacoma Narrows bridge should be built, only won by 3%, and was built anyway, unchanged. Now, the ballpark was only an initial query, with no set location, but the new Tacoma Narrows will be plowing through neighborhoods and taking out houses. Surely, that should require a margin of voter hapiness greater than 3%. The area definitely has a history of shady tactics when it comes to gauging public interest.
--- What