With yet another post on the economics of traffic it would appear that many economists should instead have studied urban planning. Alain Bertaud explained why traffic is mostly a result of mis-allocated real estate:

• A car on the street can consume anywhere between 14 and 65 square meters of street depending on the speed it is travelling at.
• In cities these cars are occupying valuable real estate…yet they don’t really pay for the land they occupy.
• This is, in part, the reason for traffic. If motorists had to pay the market price for the real estate they occupy while they’re driving, there wouldn’t be any congestion.
• In parts of Manhattan, for example, roads take up 36% of the available land – since motorists don’t pay the market price for it, this valuable land is inefficiently distributed.

Read more over here.

Source: Urbanization Project

Via: Marginal Revolution

Tom Parfitt writes that the rich in Russia have found a new way to avoid traffic: ride in an ambulance.

• For $200 an hour individuals can choose to get to their destination in an ambulance taxi.
• They use their sirens to clear out traffic jams and get executives to their meetings on time.
• These aren’t your standard ambulances – they are fitted with plush interiors not too different from those of a limousine.
• The police intend to stop ambulances for random checks to crack down on the practice.

Read more about one ambulance that was caught, and what the President and Prime Minister intend to do in response over here.

Source: National Post

Andrew Liszewski reported on an interesting idea being implemented by Canadian authorities:

• The City of Calgary has installed a traffic tracking system that works by detecting Bluetooth signals and the hardware code associated with it.
• The fifteen sensors analyze how long it takes for the devices to cross the highway. That data is then used to determine the amount and flow of traffic on the road.
• Overall the system costs $400,000.
• Algorithms ensure that pedestrians and other anomalies aren’t counted as a part of the data.
• Protections are also put into place to ensure the drivers’ privacy.

Read more about the system and how it works over here.

Source: Gizmodo

Paulo Cabral reported from Sao Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, about the traffic problem:

• On Friday evenings traffic jams can stretch as far as 300 kilometers (with an average of 180km).
• Cars move so slowly for so long that at least one couple got married after spying each other as their cars inched along in the jam.
• There is a radio station that runs 24/7 that does nothing but report on the traffic – and creative routes to escape it.
• Helicopters have become an increasingly popular way to commute.

Read more about how this affects Brazil’s economy, and why building more roads isn’t really the solution over here.

Source: BBC

Sandy Hausman reports on a creative way that Indonesians have found to get around new traffic control rules:

• Projections suggest that by 2014 traffic will become so bad in Jakarta that there will be a total girdlock.
• To deal with this lawmakers set up special lanes which only cars with three or more people can drive on during rush hour.
• This has led to groups of people raising their index finger at the entry to these zones, offering to sit in the car to make up the numbers.
• Such passengers can make anywhere between $1 and $2.35 per trip.
• Not only do they earn money, but the people who can afford to pay have nice cars in which they can enjoy the air conditioning and the radio. It’s also an opportunity to explore the city.
• The practice is illegal although it has become so successful that lawmakers are considering creating a toll road with the proceeds being used to finance a public transit system.

To read more including details about the future of traffic congestion in Jakarta, what happens to those who get caught, why mothers have an advantage, the safety of the practice, how long some commutes can be without the lane, the stalled mass transit system, and what providers and users of the service have to say, click here.

Source: The World

Via: Marginal Revolution

Paul A. Eisenstein went through a study released by the US treasury department about American road infrastructure. Highlights include:

• Americans waste 1.9 billion gallons of fuel a year waiting in traffic. This is 5% of total gas used and represents a loss of $7 billion.
• If you take into account the productivity cost of idling in traffic, then the true cost of traffic is $100 billion a year.
• Poor quality roads cost motorists up to $756 a year in vehicle maintenance and other such expenses.
• The US invests 2% of GDP on roads. In Europe it’s 5%.

To read more details from the report, including how the recession actually made things better from a traffic perspective, how the US compares to China, and the government bill that might begin to solve the problem, click here.

Source: MSNBC

Traffic is viewed by many economists as a market failure. There is too little supply and too much demand. The New York Times looked at some of the issues involved:

• Commuter delays are estimated to cost the United States $100 billion – $750 for every commuter in the country.
• Attempts to solve the problem could actually make it worse:
  • Policymakers might attempt to construct new roads to more evenly distribute the traffic, but road construction leads to a proportional increase in road utilization meaning that traffic levels remain unchanged.
  • Officials might also try to increase the number of taxis available in the hopes of encouraging commuters to use those instead of their personal cars. However one expert has found that adding one taxi is the equivalent of adding 40 private cars because cabs spend so much more time on the road.
• New York City’s plan to increase taxi traffic by 15% could cause travel speeds across Manhattan to fall by up to 12%

To read about a potential solution that has worked in other cities as well as more details about the problem, click here.

Source: The New York Times