What's more, Rand economist Thomas Light, one of the study's coauthors, acknowledged that some individuals will be made worse off by the plan, and then added that "many of these people also are disadvantaged by the status quo, because they are hampered by both the existing traffic congestion and the taxes collected to fund transportation."
In other words, those hurt the worst will be people who already are at the bottom of the economic pecking order. All the gaudy ornaments (like tricking up a toll road as a jobs program) and Socratic social sophistries (like, what is equity, after all?) aside, here's a thought experiment on what this version of congestion pricing will mean for Los Angeles:
Let's imagine the new lanes are built and the new tolls are in operation. You're a single mother working in a downtown law office part time because your hours have been cut as one of the firm's economy measures. Just about noon, you get a call from the day-care center, where your 3-year-old is running a high fever. You decide to give up two badly needed hours of work to pick her up early, hoping she won't need a visit to the pediatrician because the state no longer funds healthcare for the working poor. About the same time you leave, the firm's managing partner heads out for lunch and a round of golf at his club.
Despite the time of day, L.A.'s freeways are inexplicably clogged -- virtual gridlock for no apparent reason. The new toll lanes, however, are moving freely. For the senior partner, it's a no-brainer. He pays the $1.40-a-mile toll without a first, let alone a second, thought and arrives at his club early enough for a Bloody Mary before lunch. Our single mom, however, looks at the bumper-to-bumper traffic around her, glances over at the freely moving toll lane and has to do the mental math to decide whether getting to her child in less than 90 minutes is worth being late with this month's rent.
What the heck, she's already disadvantaged by the status quo, so what's another hour of anguish?
A society that can rationalize the imposition of such pain doesn't need to worry over how to define equity; it needs to worry about its soul.
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timothy.rutten@latimes.com
