bump and clarification:

Do HOT (High-Occupancy Toll) lanes qualify as a congestion pricing plan if they employ variable pricing?
www.streetsblog.org/2007/10/17/refresher-what-is-congestion-pricing/

-NapkinG-

napkinG, do you know of large cities where they are using variable pricing based on time of day?

We have toll tags in Dallas, and you get a cheaper price for having the tag vs. stopping at the booth and handing a person your money. But that is 24/7.

from your article, the guy mentions 5 cities: NYC, Miami, Seattle, SF, and Minneapolis. The only city that meets the 1 million person criteria is NYC.

It would be nice to know what kind of congestion pricing plans would qualify though. Do you know of any cities that have implemented 1 or more of the 4 pricing strategies on that site?

In answer to the state approval requirement, the New York constitution grant rights to local governments. But they still need state approval for some laws.

Here's something from NYC's site about it:
www.nyc.gov/html/planyc2030/html/plan/
transportation_congestion-pricing.shtml

"The details would have to be determined through a collaborative process between the City and the State, because State legislation would be needed to enable the City to impose a fee and give the City the right to fine violators. State law could authorize the City to define the pricing area, the amount of the charge, the hours it would apply, and the fines for failure to pay, or it could specify those details in the legislation. The legislation would also need to specify the type of environmental review that would be necessary."

"After reviewing the plan, Mayor Bloomberg endorsed the Commission's recommendation. The City Council passed a home rule message endorsing the plan on March 31. However, the State Legislature refused to put the plan to a vote"

Ok, the reason I wasn't providing more details was because I was looking for a good summary. This might be the best one here:
http://knowledge.fhwa.dot.gov/cops/hcx.nsf/docs/28F4A458AC0B537B85256DBF006155E1?opendocument&Group=Value%20Pricing&tab=REFERENCE
The unique feature of this pilot project is that tolls vary dynamically with the level of congestion on the HOV lanes. Fees can vary in 25-cent increments as often as every six minutes to help maintain free-flow traffic conditions on the HOV lanes.

It seems as though San Diego back in 1999 had converted their High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes (HOV) into High Occupancy Toll Lanes (HOT). With the HOT lanes, the extra lane is billed to single-occupancy vehicles based upon the current congestion. More traffic, price goes up. I think there is also a cap for various timeframes during the day.

Unsure on two issues: the state-approved legislation condition and whether it qualifies as a 'congestion pricing plan'.

Seems like another one of those props satisfied before launch due to non-specific wording.

-NapkinG-

Heh, answered my first question by digging a little deeper:
State legislation (Assembly Bill 713) allowing SOVs to use the I-15 HOV facility for a fee
was authored and sponsored by the then Assemblyman Jan Goldsmith and was signed
into law in October 1994. - Pg 5 of Year 3 Overall Report (found within my previous link)

-NapkinG-

San Diego's HOV and HOT lanes do count as congestion pricing, according to the Federal Highway Administration's definition at "http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/congestionpricing/congestionpricing.pdf". On page 2 it says that congestion pricing uses "four main types of pricing strategies, each of
which is discussed in more detail later in this section:
• Variably priced lanes, involving variable tolls on separated
lanes within a highway, such as Express Toll Lanes or HOT
Lanes, i.e. High Occupancy Toll lanes
• Variable tolls on entire roadways – both on toll roads and
bridges, as well as on existing toll-free facilities during
rush hours
• Cordon charges – either variable or fixed charges to drive
within or into a congested area within a city
• Area-wide charges – per-mile charges on all roads within
an area that may vary by level of congestion."

On page 5 it says "On San Diego’s I-15 HOT lanes,
revenues generated by toll-payers financed transit
improvements that contributed to a 25 percent increase
in bus ridership."

So obviously 1.) The Federal Highway administration recognizes that HOT and HOV lanes are examples of congestion pricing strategies, and 2.) That San Diego's use of these lanes counts as congestion pricing.

With NapkinG's research above, and the fact that San Diego has a population of over 1 million, it's pretty clear this prop was a long payout before anyone even thought of it.

bumpity bump bump

Common people, you normally hang off of every new research that vulgarian throws out. I can only think of two reasons why the mindless masses have not changed this to long: they're waiting for word from Taylor or waiting to see the magic words at the bottom of this post:

LONG LONG LONG

-NapkinG-

Taylor on vacation = no rush to change positions

So much for that theory.....

lol chef. Goes to show, anything is possible in the ppx.

-NapkinG-

1999!
Only real argument I could make against this payout (long) is the tense of the verbs in the payout statement ("will pay out" and "passes"). The event triggering payout occurred 8 years before the proposition opened.