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Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by coryrc on Thursday January 22, 2026 @01:00PM (#46722845)
Trucks are responsible for 99% of road damage and only pay 38% of the costs.

https://truecostblog.com/2009/06/02/the-hidden-trucking-indu...

Yes, the costs should be apportioned to those who are making them. If the bus causes the most road damage, then it should be charged. Then it'll make financial sense to invest in rail. Financial incentives are how capitalism works and the purpose of governments under capitalism is to apply externalities to the source causing them.

Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by rfrey on Thursday January 22, 2026 @01:42PM (#46723436)
Should cyclists be charged a special tax for bike lane construction and maintenance? What about sidewalks, should you need a pedestrian pass?
Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by coryrc on Thursday January 22, 2026 @02:30PM (#46724030)
1. As soon as the roads are all paying best-possible-use property tax for the space they take up and it's completely paid by automobiles, in addition to all maintenance, we should try to proportionally assign dedicated bicycle infrastructure costs toward bicycle users, now and anticipated.

2. Everyone is a pedestrian.

Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by rfrey on Thursday January 22, 2026 @03:10PM (#46724531)
People accuse communists of being unrealistic idealists, but they have nothing on the libertarians.
Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by coryrc on Thursday January 22, 2026 @05:29PM (#46725971)
That's the first I've heard of a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax (and, less directly, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism ) being libertarian!

fuck cars

Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by rfrey on Thursday January 22, 2026 @05:39PM (#46726047)
User pay formerly-public-infrastructure is what I identified as libertarian. Would you also advocate for residents of high crime areas to pay more taxes for police coverage?
Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by coryrc on Thursday January 22, 2026 @05:52PM (#46726155)
"User pay" is typically associated with regressive per-use taxes. It's perfectly compatible with socialism to ensure the cost of the road system is applied to only automobile users in a progressive manner. Relatedly, Finland moving violation fines are not a fixed fee and are proportional to income: https://nri.today/wealthy-speedsters-beware-finlands-million... Stop thinking "cars=default", they are not.

Legally criminal actions are violations against the state, which is why a prosecutor decides whether to file charges and does not need the consent of the victim to do so. We already have what you suggest with civil law and private security.

Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by rfrey on Thursday January 22, 2026 @07:12PM (#46726789)
It's pure pedantry to distinguish between "user pay" and "progressive fees" based on usage. You're advocating for private payments on public infrastructure, it doesn't make it socialism just because it's infrastructure you disapprove of.
Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by ndsipa_pomu on Thursday January 22, 2026 @01:53PM (#46723577)
It'd be interesting to try charging vehicles relative to the road damage they do as it's proportional to around the fourth power of weight. It would likely change the nature of logistics as it could mean that large trucks would be more expensive that using two or three smaller trucks. Similarly, buses would benefit from being smaller and lighter.
Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by direwolf20 on Thursday January 22, 2026 @02:09PM (#46723756)
Trucks already have lots of axles and wheels for this reason, because it's weight per wheel that matters.
Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by ndsipa_pomu on Friday January 23, 2026 @06:02AM (#46731056)
I suspect the number of axles and wheels is to generally improve the strength/weight ratio rather than to minimise road surface damage.
Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by coryrc on Friday January 23, 2026 @10:57PM (#46740918)
Nope, the requirement comes from government standards intended to reduce road damage and specifies maximum ground pressure.
Re:In Europe, Wind and Solar Overtake Fossil Fuels by ndsipa_pomu on Saturday January 24, 2026 @06:16AM (#46742640)
Okay, so there is a maximum. Charging proportionate to the road damage costs would still change the cost benefits of using single large vehicles vs multiple smaller vehicles, or possibly lots more axles.