Dennis Gorelik

It is fun to watch how smart people make choices against their own interest -- simply because they do not have clear understanding of basic micro-economics principles (such as Law of Supply and Demand).

Here is an example:
Population of Bay Area has been struggling with traffic congestions for decades.
So in 2018 they launched Regional Measure 3

"Regional Measure 3" is clearly in the interest of most of Bay Area residents, but many, driven by stinginess, still complain.

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https://mtc.ca.gov/our-work/advocate-lead/regional-measure-3
To help solve the Bay Area's growing congestion problems, MTC worked with the state Legislature to authorize a new ballot measure that would finance a comprehensive suite of highway and transit improvements through an increase tolls on the region's seven state-owned toll bridges.
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So, the overall intent is right: Bay Area has traffic congestion problems that need to be fixed.

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toll revenues would be used to finance a $4.45 billion slate of highway and transit improvements in the toll bridge corridors and their approach routes.
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1) Tolls would decrease number of cars on the roads, which would decrease traffic congestions.

2) Highway improvements would allow more cars to pass faster.

However stingy residents do not like to pay ($3 per single passing) and forget that the alternative is to spend a lot of their valuable time in traffic jams.


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Major projects in the RM 3 expenditure plan include new BART cars to accommodate growing ridership
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juan_gandhi considers this measure unfair ("why should tall payments from car drivers - go to improve BART?").
That is a reasonable objection, however there are 2 strong reasons why that "BART financing from cars toll system" is an important part of "Regional Measure 3":
Reason #1: Without sponsoring BART it will be hard to make "Regional Measure 3" to pass (poor people are not going to vote for toll payments increase).
Reason #2: Sponsoring BART is likely to be a relatively small expense (relative to the spendings that would go to the improvement of the highway system).

So, overall, that "Regional Measure 3" campaign was designed quite well. It is a quite reasonable way to reduce traffic jams that Bay Area has.
It makes sense that largest employers (Google, Facebook, ...) supported "Regional Measure 3".

It is good for Bay Area residents (and business) that "Regional Measure 3" passed.