Tolls are just a form of paying people to go away (if you don't take the toll road, you're paid by getting to keep a few dollars in your pocket).
It only reduces traffic for you if you are one of the ones that didn't go away.
If the toll discouraged you, then the traffic problem isn't solved for you; you're taking a bunch of non-toll roads riddled with detours and intersections.
We can't call that a solution to the traffic problem. That's like saying, "we can reduce congestion on this ethernet switch not by better firmware and protocols, but just getting people to stop web surfing and watching videos, and go do something else".
The cost of vehicle ownership is a sizable toll people already pay. Even a beater is $300/mo. for insurance and maintenance, not counting the fuel. We've dumped our second car (2010) to shed about $900/mo. in insurance, maintenance and loan payments.
And then you've got this double-edged sword that Lyft is cheap enough to be competitive with vehicle ownership + parking (for commutes up to about 8 miles), and the Rideshare cars have automatic free access to the HOV lanes. So those people get to ride fast without removing a car from the road as the HOV program intends.
I drive a beater, it cost me $4k 6 years ago. I spend $40/month on insurance in a big city - liability only, about $150 a year on maintenance (2-3 oil changes, plus misc.), and generally have 1 big repair a year that runs me $300-500. All-in-all that's $75-95 a month plus gas. It's really not a huge toll, even for poor people.
Tolls are just a form of paying people to go away (if you don't take the toll road, you're paid by getting to keep a few dollars in your pocket).
It only reduces traffic for you if you are one of the ones that didn't go away.
If the toll discouraged you, then the traffic problem isn't solved for you; you're taking a bunch of non-toll roads riddled with detours and intersections.
We can't call that a solution to the traffic problem. That's like saying, "we can reduce congestion on this ethernet switch not by better firmware and protocols, but just getting people to stop web surfing and watching videos, and go do something else".