# A new opportunity for congestion pricing

**Published by:** [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/)
**Published on:** 2026-03-27
**Categories:** congestion-pricing, self-driving-cars, waymo, autonomous-vehicles, mobility, transport, transit
**URL:** https://brandondonnelly.com/a-new-opportunity-for-congestion-pricing

## Content

We’ve been talking about the merits of congestion pricing for as long as I’ve been writing this blog. But it remains politically unpopular, despite the overwhelming evidence that it consistently does what it’s supposed to do: it reduces congestion, shortens commute times, improves air quality, and raises money for alternative modes of transport, among other things. The status quo bias is strong, but right now we have an opportunity. Self-driving cars are in the midst of shifting the mobility landscape, and there’s a growing belief that (1) roads are going to need to be more accurately priced to deal with the surge in demand, and (2) this is a moment in time that grants us the opportunity to do it. Here’s a recent tweet by Chris Spoke of Toronto Standard that makes this point and that I agree with. The basic idea behind point number two is that many voters don’t like the idea of a congestion charge for themselves, but will probably mind a charge on robot cars a lot less — both because they are robot cars and because there are relatively few of them on the road today. However, at some point, robot cars will form the majority of vehicles on the road, so now would be a good time to establish new practices. What do you think?Cover photo by Minku Kang on Unsplash

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