CONGESTION PRICING Colloquium at Columbia: "Vickrey's Legacy"

CONGESTION PRICING

Colloquium at Columbia: "Vickrey's Legacy"

Market-based pricing for transport gained international recognition last fall when Columbia economics professor William Vickrey, the father of congestion pricing was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics. Like many destined to change the world, Vickrey was a lonely intellectual figure for much of his life but in the last few years his idea has gained widespread professional, if not yet political, support.

There is now hardly a transport economist or an urban planner who does not support the principle of congestion pricing as the most potent way to tackle the problem of congested rush hour city highways, make urban transport more civilized, reduce air pollution and improve the quality, efficiency and choices of daily life for urban people. Subsidies of transit have accompanied a continuing loss of mode share. Exhortations to 'car pool' and 'ride transit' haven't worked. Nor have elaborate efforts to coerce employers to coerce employees. Pricing roads works. The challenge is to design successful examples of CP and build political support for their extension.

On the announcement of the Nobel Prize Bill Vickrey said he wanted to use the 'bully pulpit' of his newfound celebrity to promote the cause of CP, but sadly he died just days later.

His university and the New York Regional Plan Association (RPA) are sponsoring a day-long Colloquium titled "Pricing Transportation Right: William Vickrey's Legacy" April 28 to discuss issues of implementation of CP. They have a preliminary program of speakers which assembles most of the 'CP-heavies' in north America for the session — from federal, state and local agencies, universities and business. It lists Carl Williams the pioneer in California, Deb Redmond from SCAG, several study professionals from Minneapolis/St Paul, Feds, some Canadians, a French CP-leader, and a real galaxy of the big names in the New York/NJ/CT metro area.

Zupan says attendance will be limited by the physical capacity of the Columbia U hall (location a secret) to 150 people who must get a ticket beforehand. The real news is that Zupan is NOT conducting an auction of the available tickets. Of course if you get in early there could be some profitable scalping...Most of the 20 odd staffers of 'TR newsletter' have already applied for tickets, so move fast! Contact Jeff Zupan at RPA, preferably he says by fax 212 785 4816 but here's his talking number 212 785 8000x302 and e-mail jeff@rpa.org