Road Pricing = "Duh Road" Tolling

"Duh road" tolling uses high-tech collection, but does not work like "smart road" ETO actively in real-time with drivers to optimize traffic.

Road pricing is an euphemism for congestion charging. Both are tolling euphemisms touted as ways to cut gridlock by reducing traffic demand.

Road pricing (congestion charging) is also touted as a source of subsidy finance for public transit deficits (capital & operating), simultaneously discouraging car use while rewarding transit use.

Here is an objective description of road pricing (congestion charging):

• Stealth elitist "clearance" of our transportation commons, creating an unfair two-class rich / poor roads system.
  
  

• Forces poor drivers off popular roads so rich drivers can buy improved "duh" (i.e. low-tech) traffic travel on them.
  
  

• Punitively high tolls are necessary, to push enough poor drivers off reserved roads, so remaining rich driver "duh" traffic flows freely.
  
  

• Rich drivers, for the right to use the priced roads, are forced to subsidize a public transit system they often do not care to use.
  
  

• Poor drivers, forced off roads their other taxes still pay for, must suffer less convenient means of travel, reduced job prospects.
  
  

• Crude "economist's solution" to congestion. Brutal macro-managed simplistic price hack uses tolls to repel demand for road capacity.
  
  

• Low-tech "duh road" solution. Does not work real-time with traffic in operation, to extract maximum safe always efficient vehicle flow.
  
  

• "Duh road" tolling has no built-in potential for future additional improvement in traffic performance.
  
  

• High cost dedicated tolling equipment yields only modest net toll revenues plus modest benefit of improved "duh road" traffic.
  
  

• Timidly NIBBLES around the edges of the congestion problem, whereas ETO gets right to the HEART of the congestion problem.

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"Smart Road" ETO & Optional ETO Tolling

ETO rewards every individual driver, empowering them to contribute during driving, to safe sustained efficient expressway traffic for all.

The "smart road" ETO technology foundation enables big ongoing future improvements in expressway traffic performance. Once ETO v1 operates expressways at today's safe top traffic flow rate of 2000 vehicles per lane.hour, next will come safe optional high-flow lanes at 4000 or 6000.

In contrast with high-cost / low-reward "duh" road pricing, "smart road" ETO provides a low-cost / high-reward tolling option. Drivers pay no more than $1 - $3 per vehicle per business day to use an ETO-tuned zero-congestion high-efficiency low-emissions expressway network.

Two ETO vehicle-sharing options are:

• carpool lane (high-occupancy vehicle / high-occupancy toll).
  
  

• priority metered HOV / HOT on-ramp queue (beside gp queue).
  

Drivers can afford budget-priced ETO expressway tolls that still yield significant net toll revenues. Fuel and time savings help pay tolls.