I would like bus/rail fares to be as low as possible. Ideally all transportation would be Free(TM) and getting where you want to go would cost nothing more than the time to get there. Obviously being Free(TM) is a pipe dream but something as simple as getting from A to B should at least be cheap and effective enough that it is not something that requires significant expense or planning.
The ability to go places is essential for society to function in the same way that drinking water and getting rid of trash are. It is something every member of society needs access to. With the current state of public transit networks increasing the cost of road usage is about as useful to society as taxing private wells in areas without municipal water.
Cars as a technology have their downsides but they are an integral part of our society at present and for the foreseeable future. Doing things to restrict them or increase cost to decrease over use and abuse would have net negative consequences for society. We should emphasize rail and bus for new transit development in urban areas but we shouldn't handicap the existing capacity for cars.
This idea that some good should be free leads only to misery, since nothing is actually free, and to provide a good for free ultimately just means taking it by force from someone to give to someone else, usually in a manner motivated by sentiment. That's not a recipe for efficient allocation of scarce resources.
I clarified my original point. I'm very much not in favor of price controls. I'm even less in favor of the government artificially jacking the price of things though as a sin tax (which is essentially what adding tolls to reduce usage is). The government should use carrots (more better alternatives) not sticks (increased cost).
Roadway space may be somewhat scarce in some areas now but transit infrastructure is not a finite resource. We can always build more. In urban areas we should probably build something other than roads (i.e. subways) though.
The ability to go places is essential for society to function in the same way that drinking water and getting rid of trash are. It is something every member of society needs access to. With the current state of public transit networks increasing the cost of road usage is about as useful to society as taxing private wells in areas without municipal water.
Cars as a technology have their downsides but they are an integral part of our society at present and for the foreseeable future. Doing things to restrict them or increase cost to decrease over use and abuse would have net negative consequences for society. We should emphasize rail and bus for new transit development in urban areas but we shouldn't handicap the existing capacity for cars.