On an ill-timed and ill-fated trip during rush hour today I was reminded of something I’ve wanted to write about. I wanted to highlight one of most practical reasons for having private ownership of roads. Private ownership or, at the very least, sensible management of them–but we’ll get to that later. Moral and ethical reasons aside–and it could be strongly argued that using forcibly appropriated funds (i.e. taxation) to build infrastructure is unethical and morally indefensible–government management of roads is just so damn inefficient!
There is a simple way to diminish the impossible congestion at rush hour. Charge people more (or at all) to use the roads at those times. This is exactly the reason why subway systems (like the London Underground) charge significantly higher rates during “peak times”, and why Uber institutes “surge prices” during excessively busy times. What this does is entice people to arrange their schedules or commute so that they are not traveling during the busiest times thus reducing traffic. In the case of Uber the surge prices also serve to incentivize as many drivers as possible to work.
Higher prices reduce traffic by causing those who don’t have to be traveling at that time to not travel or to not use those means of transportation. This leaves only those who have no other options available using the train or Uber. This same principle could be easily applied to freeways and all roads.
The practical problem we would run into, however, is the fact that the roads are considered “publicly owned” (which in reality just means they are coercively controlled by the government). People could, correctly, argue that they pay for the roads through their taxes and so they have as much right to use them as everyone else. They could further argue that these “surge prices” bar them access to the roads and so they shouldn’t have to pay taxes for them at all. I can also imagine the typical platitudes damning the rich for being able to afford the high prices.
These are the problems that arise when things are effectively owned by no one (as is the case with public ownership) and when people do not have control over where their dollars are spent. People shouldn’t have to pay anything for roads that additional charges effectively prevent them from using. Additionally, when something is touted as being owned by “everyone” then no one really has the right to prevent some of that group from using it.
So in a nutshell, the arguments against having higher prices for road use during rush hour are completely valid–so long as the roads are coercively controlled and operated by the state. They would be solved, however, were the roads made private. Since roads have already been built some method would have to be established for turning them over to private hands. Whether that would be through some sort of auctioning or homesteading is debatable.
What it would probably look like though is the highways and major roads being owned in sections (or in entirety but that may be prohibitively expensive) by private companies. The companies would make money off them by charging tolls or membership fees. They could probably also collect maintenance fees from major businesses on their route.
Residential roads, on the other hand, could be owned collectively with each resident owning a stake and having a say in the operation. I could also imagine many if not most of non-highway roads being owned and maintained by the businesses they service. For example, a Walmart would pay for the local roads leading to it because they want their customers to have safe and easy access to their store.
In other words, private roads could take many forms but we can rest assured that spontaneous order will take care of it. Well-maintained roads are a necessity for modern society which means that there is money to be made in providing them. When there is money to be made in something entrepreneurs figure out a way to make it a reality.
Were roads privately owned the companies or individuals who own them would have an incentive to not have their roads backed up bumper to bumper for hours on end. An obvious way to cut down on this would be to charge higher prices to decrease the demand for the roads during rush hour. This would allow for the market to work itself out by letting those who believe the price is worth it to use the roads, and incentivizing those for whom the price is too high to stay off the roads.
Simple supply and demand. Introduce some basic economic reality to roads and watch the magic happen. Those who really need to use the roads during peak times but can’t afford it will have an incentive to carpool to split the cost or to find some other means of transportation.
Introduced on a national scale this could even have the effect of reinvigorating passenger train service and induce railway expansion in the US. It could even push inventors and entrepreneurs to create a whole new mode of transport–maybe something like flying cars or “It” from Southpark (let’s hope just a bit better ergonomically designed).
If we eliminate paradoxes and contradictions like public or government “ownership” then we will allow people to fix problems associated with those things. Let the market and economics reign supreme and let entrepreneurs solve the issues that present themselves. Freedom will always win.