If we want the price of gas to be accuratly reflected, how about $5-7 dollars a gallon. That would probably get people into reasonably sized vehicles or better yet, in alternate forms of transportation
Unfortunately, there is a significant possibility that this could damage some people's lives in other ways.
For instance, mass transit tends to be available chiefly in cities and the more major suburban areas, rather than smaller suburban and rural communities. In these smaller communities, mass transit is either sharply limited, or simply not available. This could leave many people with the choice of moving to the city or facing severe transportation costs to drive cars to commute.
In turn, this would cause a large influx of population into cities, which would have the effect of exacerbating the effects of poverty as demand for housing goes up, and along with it rents. It would also exacerbate the effects of urban overcrowding. As poverty and urban overcrowding in turn give rise to other detrimental effects, particularly noise pollution, crime, and other things which effect the quality of life...
Ideally it might be a good idea to encourage people through pricing to choose better transportation options, but... IMO, it's just not doable in a practical sense without concessions that we probably don't want to make, and will probably remain so until telecommuting becomes widespread enough that people can forego frequent (i.e., basically daily) physical travel to urban areas. Even then, certain industries will still always require human presences, and will still pose these issues.
Slashdot Mirror
If we want the price of gas to be accuratly reflected, how about $5-7 dollars a gallon. That would probably get people into reasonably sized vehicles or better yet, in alternate forms of transportation
Unfortunately, there is a significant possibility that this could damage some people's lives in other ways.
For instance, mass transit tends to be available chiefly in cities and the more major suburban areas, rather than smaller suburban and rural communities. In these smaller communities, mass transit is either sharply limited, or simply not available. This could leave many people with the choice of moving to the city or facing severe transportation costs to drive cars to commute.
In turn, this would cause a large influx of population into cities, which would have the effect of exacerbating the effects of poverty as demand for housing goes up, and along with it rents. It would also exacerbate the effects of urban overcrowding. As poverty and urban overcrowding in turn give rise to other detrimental effects, particularly noise pollution, crime, and other things which effect the quality of life ...
Ideally it might be a good idea to encourage people through pricing to choose better transportation options, but ... IMO, it's just not doable in a practical sense without concessions that we probably don't want to make, and will probably remain so until telecommuting becomes widespread enough that people can forego frequent (i.e., basically daily) physical travel to urban areas. Even then, certain industries will still always require human presences, and will still pose these issues.