Get rid of inefficient traffic

Inefficiency and wasted time are major problems throughout Australia – and particularly in our capital cities. Time taken in travelling to and from work amounts to billions of dollars a year. Assuming melbourne is typical, peak hour traffic is a nightmare and there are just as many vehicles travelling from the west as there are from the east. Why can't our politicians encourage those people living to the west of Melbourne to work on that side of the city and give the same treatment to those in the east. While some people, tradesmen and salespersons may need to have a vehicle with them – most office workers do not. They drive into work, park the car and only pick it up to drive home – or visit a favourite hotel for lunch so why should such a vehicle be tax deductible? Many vehicles are provided to staff on tax-effective arrangement such as novated leases which simply encourages the use of cars. Removing such arrangements would help to limit vehicle use and encourage people to live closer to their work. Of course we need significant improvements in public transport for this to work – a far better use of infrastructure spending than building more tollways or freeways which become clogged anyway.