My new hobby is pushing the city of Boston to implement "congestion pricing" - charging drivers to come into a city all the time or during specific times, to reduce traffic congestion and encourage the use of public transportation.

The City of London was the first major city to implement it (oh, alright, it was somewhere in Sweden), now New York City is thinking about it (much as Mayor Bloomberg denies it).

Is Boston next?

Well, considering the average person is having a problem inserting a paper ticket into a subway turnstile, and the average person is complaining about having to spend $2 for two hours of parking at a meter, I doubt anything like this could happen.

It steams me to think of all those people coming down from New Hampshire and using our streets "for free". They cause a serious strain on our inner-city infrastructure.

Add in the additional costs of lost time, air pollution, and the inability of emergency vehicles to transverse the street grid, and the idea of congestion pricing starts to make sense.

More: Congestion pricing plan gains speed in toll poll - By Pete Donohue, New York Daily News

Also: Bigger Push for Charging Drivers Who Use the Busiest Streets - By William Neuman, The New York Times