Urban Congestion Pricing and the Response Times of Emergency Medical Services

ceejayoz 57 points 112 comments September 01, 2026
www.nber.org · View on Hacker News

Discussion Highlights (4 comments)

estearum

Congestion pricing is one of the few policy ideas that's so overwhelmingly positive that even the people who try to argue against it end up strengthening the argument. Love it. "What about all the people who need to drive into the city for work?" Uhh... don't! "What about the delivery people who need to bring this into the city?" They should be able to get in and out much faster, and their cargo makes it easy to amortize the cost! "What about people who need to drive due to mobility issues?" Look, now they can park near their destination too!

game_the0ry

You know what would also help traffic congestion? Allowing people to work from home. Has the added benefit of reducing gas prices (less demand) and less greenhouse gas emissions.

austin-cheney

My city is growing at about 25,000 people per year. Just take a second to run some numbers in your head to let that sink in. In 1990 this city was the 29th largest city in the US and now it is the 10th. By 2050 it is projected to be the 9th largest city in the US surpassing Dallas in population. We have congestion everywhere and few transportation options. I cannot imagine the consequences of congestion pricing here. Sometimes it could take 30 minutes to get to the freeway 1.5 miles away during morning rush hour. I suspect congestion pricing here would motivate many people to simply abandon their employment if in a job where work from home is a disallowed viable possibility. In my case I am currently unemployed and am turning down interview offers in locations I used to commute to just a few years back, because now the costs of commute are another form of wage depreciation that gets factored into the compensation rate.

danking00

https://www.nber.org/sites/default/files/2026-08/sep26_0.pdf

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