As a result, Mr Parry finds, the net benefits of a road-specific peak-period fee (the gain of less congestion minus the cost of disrupted travel) would be about three times bigger than a petrol-tax increase calculated to curb congestion by the same amount.
Except in a relatively small number of specific places at specific times, the social cost of congestion is small.
With modern technology, knowledge workers and knowledge businesses can escape urban congestion and the high cost of living by moving to the open spaces.
All the talk about the social cost of traffic congestion is a canard.
Campaigners say there are also secondary benefits such as reduced congestion and emissions and that the cost of changing street signs is small compared with the benefit of fewer lost lives.
BBC: Lib Dem conference: Call for more 20mph speed limit zones
The car dealer at Mitsubishi tried to explain how rapidly the car would pay back the initial cost in saved petrol and congestion charge costs - but how many motorists will swallow that when they could get two or three petrol cars for the price of an electric vehicle?
These missed opportunities and inefficiencies can contribute to congestion costs and impede access to low-cost supply.
The council, which banned buses from its high street to cut congestion in 2011, refused to reveal the cost but expected the scheme to break even.
But deterring congestion will in many cases require charging more than the marginal social cost of motoring, and this will impose economic loss on society instead of stemming it.
That measure is a response to complaints of congestion and disorder that have plagued areas of Chinatown and Midtown, where low-cost bus services have gathered to collect passengers.
The expansion at Stansted arguably fostered the low-cost airline industry by offering it cheap landing rights there but it failed to relieve congestion at Heathrow.
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