perhaps i’m missing something but it seems to me that there are plenty of ways of dealing with congestion on the roads other than charging people more to use them which is a policy that will only discourage those who are bothered about paying the charges.

most congestion is caused by people trying to get to the same places at the same times which is mainly people who are trying to get to work. there are millions of jobs where 9-5 working hours aren’t essential for a start. so long as there are times, whether individually arranged or collectively mandated, when everyone is on hand for meetings it doesn’t much matter which of the 40 hours a week i work and i suspect the same is true for many other people. increasing the acceptance of genuine flexitime and working from home seem like good ways to combat rush hour traffic to me.

this applies equally to making public transport a nicer place to be too, who wants to be sardined onto a rush hour train?