Over the years on this blog, we've spoken a lot about dynamic pricing when it comes to roads and traffic congestion. And in this instance, the principal intents are to price congestion, improve traffic flows, and encourage other modes of transport. It follows the logic that if you're going to tax things, tax the things you want less of.
But what about using dynamic pricing for the opposite purpose -- to induce demand?
Diana Lind recently wrote about this here and talked about how London is exploring using dynamic pricing on its transit system. But rather than increasing prices during periods of high demand, I would imagine that the idea is to reduce prices when demand is lower. Already, it is piloting reduced fares on Fridays when its ridership drops by about 10%.
It's an interesting idea because, if done correctly, it should get more bums into seats on transit. And maybe it's actually a more equitable pricing model.
https://twitter.com/donnelly_b/status/1316229179369828357?s=20
A good friend of mine in Philadelphia just recommended a new book to me by Diana Lind called, Brave New Home: Our Future in Smarter, Simpler, Happier Housing. I haven't read it yet, so I can't in good conscience recommend it to you all or comment with any sort of precision.
But the New York Times seems to think that Diana has convincingly argued that the single-family home is at least partially to blame for a whole host of our societal challenges -- everything from economic inequality to loneliness.
This is, of course, not an entirely new narrative. But it is perhaps a timely read given that we are living through a period of time where loneliness seems to be on the rise and people are allegedly fleeing our urban centers in search of space and distance.
