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How to foment changes in behavior? Carrots don't work, so it is time to get out the stick. People are basically selfish and driven by immediate benefit to themselves, Americans in general and Californians in particular.
The answer in my opinion is to make using mass transit more attractive financially. People will not get out of their cars and start ridng the train or bus unless it is much more inexpensive to do so. It is inconvenient to use mass transit, or less convenient than driving your own car, so there must be something to encourage people to get out of their cars.
Problem is, any penalty put in place is likely to be financial. Say you raise the tax on gasoline by a factor of 10. This will discourage driving, but will be a regressive tax. It would also put a lot of extra cash in the hands of the legislature, not such a good thing if you ask me. They have plenty of money, but do not spend it wisely.
I realize the gas tax is very high in California already, but there have been too many years of neglect and spending the money on other things to quickly solve the problem
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She was the kindest person I ever met
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