But then the eco-simpletons take a huge leap of logic into absurdity! If commuter pollution is the problem, then just tax the commuters until they stop commuting. That should solve the problem.
Now I have a hunch that the people who came up with this idea are either " too special" to use public transit, or have nice convenient nests, close to where they work.
Let's take a close look at your typical commuter:
- They have been forced far away from their work in order to find suitable affordable housing for their families. ( Don't even think about getting me going about Eco Density!)
- They get up an an ungodly hour. Grab a hunk of food and a huge thermos of coffee. Plug all their computers etc in the car's outlets. And head off for a multi hour hell ride that elevates their cortisol into " guaranteed heart attack" levels.
- They pay as much for parking as some renters do for a single room apartment.
- They work all day and head home, scrambling to squirm through traffic. Every five minutes counts, since they have family obligations, or would just like to see their kids awake for once. Every short cut is used..along with a certain middle finger.
- The short evening is spent either doing all the essential family chores, or feeling guilty about not doing them because of exhaustion. Forget sex...candlelight and lingerie are for the commercials.
- Then it is up to bed, and set the alarm for before the birds. Ready to start it all over again.
Do the policy planners actually think people sit down and say, "I'll buy a big gas guzzler and pay a gazillion dollars in fees, and spend half my life in a fume filled road!" Really! They have been reading too much of their propaganda.
Most commuters use their vehicles because public transit will either add even more commuting hours to their long days, or is non existent.
In a matter of fair disclosure, I should state that I am at home and my spouse does use a commuter train. But also in fair disclosure, I should tell you that she is in an envied elite! I have to drive her to the train station. There is no shuttle bus. And for those areas with shuttle buses, they frequently arrive late to the train station, or randomly fail to appear. ( Describe that to your boss for the hundredth time and see how long it takes to start up the car for the commute). We are also near the end of the line, which means that she actually gets a seat. Most public transit is jammed in bodies, armpit to putrid armpit. And then transit boards complain about low ridership and refuse to add rail cars or buses.
I have friends who get up at 3:30am to beat the rush hour. I have talked with others who have mobile offices installed, and start work in their vehicles, hours before they take a step into their physical office. Do you wonder why people buy spacious vehicles? The reason is simple. It is because they live in them!
The commuter is exhausted. They don't want the life they are forced to lead. But instead of answers, the Eco-ideologists and politicians fine them with extra taxes, squeeze life out of them with restrictive policies and dump guilt all over them.
Quite the solution.
OK so tomorrow, tell everyone not to use their vehicle to commute anymore. Tell them that the Gov't will protect their jobs with legislation and that they are guaranteed to spend the same or more time with their families. And tell them that everyone is guaranteed a seat for commuting times of over 20 minutes.
I don't think you will so many people on the road.
Taxes and guilt are easy. Solutions are hard. But the average person being squeezed, knows who is for them and who is against them.
Every penny and every second counts in commuter hell.
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