Congestion as a sign of health

From "Congestion is what urban life is really all about," in the Sydney Morning Herald:

Cities, unlike hearts, are not improved by zero congestion. Pretty much the whole of Australia has zero congestion (unless you count the flies). Cities are designed to concentrate - or congest - human energy. They are less about moving through than being there; they thrive on bustle, busy-ness and friction, creative and otherwise.

... What about a congestion tax then? The idea, modelled on the City of London, is to reduce traffic by taxing private vehicles. This may well reduce downtown car numbers but the environmental benefits would be negligible (since most people would drive elsewhere). The real effects of such a tax would be to aggravate the effective dedication of the city's supposedly public space to big-end business.

In a metropolis where most people already underuse their city centre, this is wrong in principle, not only for those so excluded, but also for city as a cultural source, since the overlap between the impecunious and the creatives is so sizeable. A better idea would be to ban private transport (other than bikes) completely, forcing even the wealthy on to public transport. Then see how long it takes to get the train problem fixed.