Any government money put toward subsidizing and installing techno-toys in cars would be much better spent on mass-transit.
Public transit should be subsidized by local/state/federal governments as close to the point of being free as possible. Paid for by license and registration fees, lotteries, and other vice-taxes and an urban business tax. And, once it costs nothing to ride, you no longer need to employ ticket takers, print and sell tickets, operate ticket systems or install turnstyles or other payment checkpoints. It also removes any pretence of the system having to operate at a profit. Once ridership is free, governments no longer have to try to invent token tax-break incentives to induce people to use it.
If you think routes will get clogged or blocked because of all the increased users, well you can add more busses/trains/subways/metros. Routes can be added and the system can be grown to reflect the area's needs. And face it, when faced with a one hour commute, wouldn't you rather sit down with your laptop and mobile gprs connection and catch up on your/. before getting to work? Although I am sure that you could get your gov't installed satnav/on-star thing to do the same for you. That way, you will have something to read while you wait upside down for the emergency road services people to extract you from your overturned car that drove off into the ditch while you were reading instead of paying attention to the road.
100 years ago, the SUV equivalent was a horse and carriage with a driver. Note the driver. Why do we now have to drive our own cars? The biggest waste isn't the time we spend in transit, it's the time that the act of driving takes away from us.
If you want to avoid the frustration of being stuck in traffic, don't drive. Let someone else do it for you and take the train/bus/whatever.
If you can afford your urban assault vehicle, then you can also afford to subsidize public transit for a few plebes and mundanes.
That about finishes up my rant. Although one last thing. If you have to get in your car in order to get a coffee, you are part of the problem. Either learn to pull a proper shot at home or move downtown and ditch the car. You'll find that the higher cost of living in an urban area without a car balance out with the cheaper suburban costs with increased vehicle operation costs. I speak from experience (though I kept my car for weekend use;-)
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Any government money put toward subsidizing and installing techno-toys in cars would be much better spent on mass-transit. Public transit should be subsidized by local/state/federal governments as close to the point of being free as possible. Paid for by license and registration fees, lotteries, and other vice-taxes and an urban business tax. And, once it costs nothing to ride, you no longer need to employ ticket takers, print and sell tickets, operate ticket systems or install turnstyles or other payment checkpoints. It also removes any pretence of the system having to operate at a profit. Once ridership is free, governments no longer have to try to invent token tax-break incentives to induce people to use it. If you think routes will get clogged or blocked because of all the increased users, well you can add more busses/trains/subways/metros. Routes can be added and the system can be grown to reflect the area's needs. And face it, when faced with a one hour commute, wouldn't you rather sit down with your laptop and mobile gprs connection and catch up on your /. before getting to work? Although I am sure that you could get your gov't installed satnav/on-star thing to do the same for you. That way, you will have something to read while you wait upside down for the emergency road services people to extract you from your overturned car that drove off into the ditch while you were reading instead of paying attention to the road.
100 years ago, the SUV equivalent was a horse and carriage with a driver. Note the driver. Why do we now have to drive our own cars? The biggest waste isn't the time we spend in transit, it's the time that the act of driving takes away from us.
If you want to avoid the frustration of being stuck in traffic, don't drive. Let someone else do it for you and take the train/bus/whatever.
If you can afford your urban assault vehicle, then you can also afford to subsidize public transit for a few plebes and mundanes.
That about finishes up my rant. Although one last thing. If you have to get in your car in order to get a coffee, you are part of the problem. Either learn to pull a proper shot at home or move downtown and ditch the car. You'll find that the higher cost of living in an urban area without a car balance out with the cheaper suburban costs with increased vehicle operation costs. I speak from experience (though I kept my car for weekend use ;-)