This is a big issue for me , I repeat/paraphrase what is said below::”Drivers do not pay the full social cost of crowding congested urban roads during peak hours”. I slept through 1 hour of traffic from Commonwealth to Mega Mall. When I take the cab at night It takes a good driver less than 30 minutes to get home. We live in a world where our actions affect others this is the reason I confuse people when I say I am libertarian in principle but is very pro regulation. We want to maximize fun/happiness/freedom for everyone, and we cannot do this if not all social costs are front center. If we continue to be blind from these social cost. My 30 minutes lost everyday from traffic because buying a car, and more so driving a car is very inexpensive relative to what people can afford. When oil hit $100-120 per barrel level the streets were less congested, my commute was reduced by 15 minutes (although I noticed a lot more people were riding the buses and MRT/LRT). The fuel cost is only a factor not even directly involved with congestion, and the effect is noticeable to me. Good public policy is what is needed!

The logic of congestion pricing is fairly straightforward. Urban areas tend to have wasteful levels of congestion during peak commuting hours. Each car that enters the roadway contributes to congestion, polluting city air and increasing overall trip time. Describing the work of the late urban economist John Meyer, Edward Glaeser makes the succinct case for pricing road access:
Unless drivers pay the full social cost of crowding congested urban roads during peak hours, then those roads will remain overused and society will pay a large cost in wasted time.
Some cities tackle the problem by cordoning-off their centers and using electronic tolling to collect congestion fees. The fees rise during peak hours and decline during off-peak hours. To avoid the charge, some people commute during non-peak hours, some people carpool, and some others commute by train, bus, bicycle, or metro. Drivers who pay-up experience less congestion and shorter commute times. For higher income drivers, the benefits from less congestion outweigh the fee. The challenge for city officials is to ensure that people who stop driving end up better off as well. It’s possible to use revenue from the charge to upgrade public transport services, improving the commute everyone.
via Charter Cities: Meta-Rules: The Success of Congestion Pricing in Stockholm.