An English Experiment: Turn in a car, get public transportation credits

What's not to like?

Here’s a news item from Coventry (near the city of Manchester):

“The government has launched an experiment to encourage people to ditch their cars in exchange for a £3,000 grant to be used on public transport.”

“A pilot for the taxpayer-funded scheme is currently taking place in Coventry, where candidates have the grant loaded onto a card that can be used to pay for transport services.”

The climate implication is obvious: get gas/diesel vehicles off the road, thereby incrementally improving air quality.

But what I really like is the way the financial incentive is structured.

Bounty-style payouts are not involved. In other words, the program is not predicated on luring car owners through the use of cash incentives (which would, naturally, require allocation of tax funds).

Bus and train systems are already established, of course. So the incremental public cost of adding small cohorts of new passengers approaches zero.

Simultaneously, public transport habits are cultivated and established.

What’s not to like?

More like this, please!

Source: https://news.yahoo.com/coventry-trialling-3-000-grants-150653429.html