Millions of Australians face the daily frustration of delayed commutes, particularly on busy motorways. But as governments spend billions continually upgrading roads, experts say that might not be the best solution.
Look up induced demand but the tldr is that adding more roads or reducing the cost just encourages more people to travel.
Currently a lot of roads you are just paying this in time but this is inefficient as it doesn’t encourages car sharing or buses (unless they are given priority). The revenue unlike wasted time in traffic can also be used to improve the road capacity or for public transit alternatives.
That, and local trips. It’s not just workers commuting, though that doesn’t help. It’s local trips too, including people driving to the shops because of poor urban design which mandates car use regardless of whether appropriate. Even if you remove the commute, you may end up with more car use locally
Does that even work? Most people aren’t sitting in traffic because they want to be there.
Mandate WFH for office workers and most will avoid the traffic by themselves.
Look up induced demand but the tldr is that adding more roads or reducing the cost just encourages more people to travel. Currently a lot of roads you are just paying this in time but this is inefficient as it doesn’t encourages car sharing or buses (unless they are given priority). The revenue unlike wasted time in traffic can also be used to improve the road capacity or for public transit alternatives.
That, and local trips. It’s not just workers commuting, though that doesn’t help. It’s local trips too, including people driving to the shops because of poor urban design which mandates car use regardless of whether appropriate. Even if you remove the commute, you may end up with more car use locally