The vast majority of people in the US and Canada are not buying minivans. They're buying comically large cars that endanger road users, and often even themselves because SUVs and trucks are not subject to the same road safety standards as sedans and minivans (in the US, at least. Not sure about Canada on this second point).

> The vast majority of people in the US and Canada are not buying minivans. They're buying comically large cars that endanger road users...

This is true in the surrounding suburbs but vehicle size in city centers trend smaller.

While it’s true the vast majority are not buying minivans, the vast majority of US citizens also live outside of cities. Thus making minivans and other, similar cars uneconomical outside of large family units.

Additionally, if the majority of Americans are buying “comically large cars”, then most are equally protected and fewer are at risk. And in my lower income neck of the woods large cars are hardly the status quo. Maybe in cities, where people make more on average and live above their means people can get large SUVs and such, but around here the biggest we got is trucks and that’s typically for work, so not overly common on the roads outside of work hours.

> While it’s true the vast majority are not buying minivans, the vast majority of US citizens also live outside of cities.

Nope:

> This statistic illustrates the size of the urban and rural population of the United States from 1960 to 2020. In 2020, there were approximately 57.47 million people living in rural areas in the United States, compared to about 274.03 million people living in urban areas.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/985183/size-urban-rural-...

Would you consider the suburbs “outside of cities”?

I'm not sure. But I'm sure I wouldn't consider the suburbs to be rural!

The most popular vehicles sold in the USA Today are crossovers, and they are subject to the same safety standards as cars. There are lots of other criteria that have to be met for a truck to be considered a non-passenger vehicles. https://www.motorbiscuit.com/do-suvs-designs-let-them-be-mor...

Unless a minivan costs more than 6x as much to park as a smaller car, it's not going to discourage carpooling. Realistically the vast majority of oversized cars are used for single drivers (and often don't even have any extra passenger or cargo space compared to a more regular sized car).

Unfortunately, the average vehicle ocupancy is around 1.6. Vans are a bit better at 2.4, but these numbers are puny compared to the 20-80 prople who fit in a single bus (which takes as much space as 3-4 cars).

Cars are a luxury in cities. The cities themselves pay for cars with noise, air quality and congestion. People should be encouraged to use them less in general.

I’m glad you point out that this is specifically a problem in cities. Most people I’ve seen on HN advocating for reducing cars make the astronomically out-of-touch arguments about how buses will come get us countryfolk and that “private transport is a luxury”, as if we’d be able to do what we need to productively without it.

Sure, with the anti-consumer construction of modern cars, and the unfortunate difficulties of sourcing old car parts, we’d love to be less car-reliant. It’s just not feasible for us though, and never will be.

There are countries with well developped buses lines in the countryside.

Perhaps if the fee was more expensive for a single person, but economical for >2 people then the math works out.

The idea is going into the right direction but i would also love to see a skyrocketing price for a second car per household. So if i need a car and my wife as well, i would encourage to make the second car around four times as expensive. Also I don't like the weight and size that much cause a functional vehicle like a minivan or pickups or vans used for work reasons shouldn't be punished. A combination out of HP, weight and a functionality factor (roomy family friendly cars and pure or mainly used working vehicles vs big luxury SUVs or small overpowered sports cars) would be a adequate calculation. Also motorbikes would need an adjustment in that level. Nobody can tell me they need a 120hs motorbike for a proper commute. They are just noise pollution.

Minivans are a totally different class of vehicle than the actual problematic vehicles, body on frame suv’s and pickups, though. I wager they are significantly lighter too because they are unibody and based on car platforms. The problem is that most people who are really in the market for a minivan don’t buy minivans anymore, they buy crossovers, which are either cars or minivans (the caravan, the first minivan, was based on the chrysler k platform, anyways) made up to look like a big box, non-aerodynamic, and in most cases, “rugged” (or “sporty”) suvs.

The minivan is cheaper to park than 6 cars. This tax discourages people from using minivans by themselves but still incentives carpooling.

> […] higher fees for larger vehicles may discourage carpooling and increase traffic.

The average occupancy is 1.5 people per vehicle:

* https://css.umich.edu/publications/factsheets/mobility/perso...

Everybody is already not-carpooling; more not-carpooling is just more of the status quo.