07/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - A new book, 'Alleviating Urban Traffic Congestion', the fourth in the CESifo Book Series at MIT Press. The authors Richard Arnott (Boston College), Tilman Rave (Ifo Institute) and Ronnie Schob (University of Magdeburg) are members of the CESifo Research Network. They look at the proven success of some cities like London or Singapore in lowering traffic volume, recommending that measures largely neglected by economists can lead to success, with a broader bundle of policy measures, some of which at least should pass the practicality test and be politically acceptable. They include city-centre parking policy, encouraging bicycle riding, staggering of work hours by big employers and use of a multimode ticket by medium-sized cities to charge cars entering the city centre a toll equal to the public transit fare. The reorientation in analysing urban traffic policies that the authors advocate could lead to a broader, more flexible and ultimately more effective bundle of measures that would reduce welfare losses from traffic jams and other problems of urban transport policy (like damage to the environment). Info: http: //http://www.cesifo-group.de/pls/portal/url/page/IFOHOME/B-PUBL/B1BOOK/80PUBLBOOKSER