Criticism
The initial reaction to the toll system in Trondheim was mixed. Some daily commuters felt the extra cost was unjustifiable, but most drivers were quite happy to pay in order to get some of the heaviest traffic out of the city centre. Ten years on, most drivers in and around Trondheim do not give the toll system a second thought. They have become used to it over time, and the system was also cleverly designed to be extremely user-friendly.
The initial development of the project came at the same time as the city council decided to close the Trondheim Tramway in 1988, with arguments that diesel buses are cheaper to operate. Trondheim has a notoriously low public transport ridership, at 11% of the total transport trips using public transport, compared to almost 50% in Oslo. Part of this is credited the low frequency and high time costs of using public transport in Trondheim, partially due to high investments in road infrastructure compared to public transport infrastructure.
After the toll ring was closed in 2005 some politicians, environmental advocates and others have suggested reintroducing the toll ring. While some are wanting to use the funds to complete the Trondheim Package, others are wanting to use it to reduce traffic congestion and use the funds for public transport subsidies.
Read more about this topic: Trondheim Toll Scheme
Famous quotes containing the word criticism:
“Nothing would improve newspaper criticism so much as the knowledge that it was to be read by men too hardy to acquiesce in the authoritative statement of the reviewer.”
—Richard Holt Hutton (1826–1897)
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—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)
“The greater the decrease in the social significance of an art form, the sharper the distinction between criticism and enjoyment by the public. The conventional is uncritically enjoyed, and the truly new is criticized with aversion.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)