Hacker News Reader

Comment by vmception | Hacker News Reader

> One thing I love about driving in America is that (in a sense) everyone is equal. Whether you drive a brand new Ferrari or a 1990 Toyota, you still wait in the same traffic.

Where is it different?

View on HN

Sorry - just speaking about my own experience and implying that an important “American value” to me is classlessness, which seems to erode over time. Thanks for calling me out on that. I don’t think this is different anywhere in the world.

In Buenos Aires, the northern, suburban, tolled highways have a non-tolled two-lane alternative that go side by side. Going west or south - some of them have a speedbump-filled alternative street, others don't even have that.

They don't ask which brand of car you're driving, but there's a really high correlation between income level and living area - northern parts being the richest.

I've heard (could be rumor) that the "high speed highways" in Japan are toll roads with tolls so high basically nobody uses them. Maybe that's an example?

Japan's expressways are privatized and tolled per-kilometer. They are competing with long-distance train lines, so the toll is in the same ballpark as a train ticket (about 13000 yen or $110 from Tokyo to Osaka).

The privatization of the expressways was pretty much enabled by the viability of the rail networks, which are also mostly privatized, mostly profitable, and extremely well-built.

My first thought was "that's enormous", but that's still smaller than the IRS standard deductible for mileage.

Though it's the toll only and doesn't include all the other costs (car, gas, etc).

Though? I mean my entire point is X<Y, so of course X doesn't include Y?

Unless maybe I failed to make clear that the standard deductible's job is to represent car+gas+etc costs.

It's not 'nobody'. They still have traffic jams. But they would be horrendous otherwise.

They are really competing with trains. Even if they were free.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com