Bit of dejavu here, Pericles. You forget, the costings did stack up. Or at least they stacked up long enough for government to spend big bucks on infrastructure that could have been avoided. Wasted time in traffic is a cost to business, wasted time is a cost to families, esp in extended day care etc, it feeds through into family stress levels, divorce rates, social costs etc. You may disagree on the hourly rate but as a person who has been in his own business in both Sydney and Brisbane, I can tell you that the time spent in traffic at the time I moved, was chalk and cheese. And it did not manifest itself at the rate of my take-home income. That time wasted in Sydney traffic was costing me at my charge-out rate of $130/hour. And this fed right through to the value of my business.

Applying a congestion tax or ring around the city center is not the answer, clearly more diverse alternative forms of transport is required.

In Victoria the previous governments reduced the number of trains and expanded the number of carriages attached to each train claiming that it was delivering the same service at reduced cost. Instead all it did was decrease the number of trains and delayed waiting times.

We need to look at creating a variety of options. More private mini-buses plying short routes linking local communities and transport hubs. (Russia and Ukraine is a good example of the effectiveness of public transport trains every 5 minutes and private mini buses covering a multitude of routes.)

Other alternatives is to share road resources more effectively and fairly. Bus/Bicycle lanes on designated routes could also me made accessible and available for use by motorcyclist during peak hour traffic. This would significantly improve road safety for motorcycle riders and encourage more people to consider motorcycles and Scooters as an alternative means of transport with minimal to no additional cost in providing additional infrastructure.

The imposition of a Central City congestion tax would create a economic gated community and further drive economic activities away form City centers and into the suburbs adding further to the number of cars on the road.

If a user pays tax needs to be applied then it should be on the price of fuel and not destination based. A fuel based payment system would encourage better fuel consumption and encourage better utilisation of public transport which must be expanded and improved. It's a multiprong approach that's required "the carrot not the stick" that required.

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