Coronavirus speeds up push for congestion charge in cities

"It is possible to reduce congestion through better street design and better traffic management, yet we keep floating congestion charge as the only solution, and that keeps us from thinking about other solutions," he said.

before all of that how about

implementing laws that encourage people to work from home and PUSHING companies to themselves encourage their workers to work from home,

providing cheap homes to buy such as Akiya that can be purchased by the municipal government, reformed, and resold at very cheap prices for new families,

Improving transportation in the underpopulated countryside (especially the areas that actually border Tokyo) to allow better access to Tokyo via train. ie Yamanashi prefecture and Chichibu, Saitama

Agree in principle with both above.

Changing the way people work will contribute a lot, but it is just one aspect of a complex mix of factors that need to be addressed to adapt cities to the changing needs of the times.

If businesses are going to save billions of dollars by motorists paying a congestion charge, then either the businesses should pay the charge or the motorists should receive the billions. They are not allowed to have it both ways.