Driving a Car in Manhattan Could Cost $11 Under Congestion Plan
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Re: Driving a Car in Manhattan Could Cost $11 Under Congestion Plan
#2It seems like it would be fairer to privatize the roads entirely and force the people who can actually use them to pay the entire cost.
Otherwise poor people are subsidizing roads reserved for the rich that they can't even use.
Re: Driving a Car in Manhattan Could Cost $11 Under Congestion Plan
#3It seems like it would be fairer to privatize the roads entirely and force the people who can actually use them to pay the entire cost. Otherwise poor people are subsidizing roads reserved for the rich that they can't even use.
What makes you think the best alternative to cut out the poor entirely?
Re: Driving a Car in Manhattan Could Cost $11 Under Congestion Plan
#4It seems like it would be fairer to privatize the roads entirely and force the people who can actually use them to pay the entire cost. Otherwise poor people are subsidizing roads reserved for the rich that they can't even use.
Even though this pushes road use into being more of a transaction I still don't believe that we should think about road use as a pure transaction. Infrastructure shapes how people live, work and play. Roads that cost $12 to drive will change the city differently than roads that cost $50 to drive on.
Specifically, I'd be worried about driving away tourists and commercial traffic. I doubt a lot of well-off locals would start driving in Manhattan if there were a congestion tax and less traffic, they'd keep taking Uber.
Re: Driving a Car in Manhattan Could Cost $11 Under Congestion Plan
#5 "drivers would not have to pay if they entered Manhattan
by all but two of the city-owned East River bridges,
which are now free to cross, as long as they bypassed
the congestion zone."
Re: Driving a Car in Manhattan Could Cost $11 Under Congestion Plan
#6It seems like it would be fairer to privatize the roads entirely and force the people who can actually use them to pay the entire cost. Otherwise poor people are subsidizing roads reserved for the rich that they can't even use.
Even though this pushes road use into being more of a transaction I still don't believe that we should think about road use as a pure transaction. Infrastructure shapes how people live, work and play. Roads that cost $12 to drive will change the city differently than roads that cost $50 to drive on. Specifically, I'd be worried about driving away tourists and commercial traffic. I doubt a lot of well-off locals would…
Even if we did view normal everyday road use as a transaction, the road infrastructure is critical to other services like police, fire, and ambulance that still make sense to be funded from taxes. If you want to be able to call the police, you're relying on roads being available.
Re: Driving a Car in Manhattan Could Cost $11 Under Congestion Plan
#7Congestion pricing is one of the most economically literate ways to improve traffic, and those funds can be used to improve infrastructure. It isn't so different from surge pricing in ridesharing apps.
There is a narrowmindedness on the part of opponents of both congestion pricing and surge pricing, because they are ignoring the obvious point that if they weren't paying the fees they'd be paying in terms of time.
Not to mention that congestion has other negatives, like pollution. Infrastructure needs to get paid for somehow. It is fair when it is paid for by the people benefiting from it.
Re: Driving a Car in Manhattan Could Cost $11 Under Congestion Plan
#8a friend was once visiting me in manhattan and decided to drive. He came over on the george washington bridge ($15 toll), missed his turn to my block and ended up getting turned around and going over to brooklyn (tunnel, of course: $8.50 toll), realized he was in the wrong place and turned around ($8.50 back through the tunnel).
This, of course, was after driving up from Virginia via I-95, which has its own $20+ worth of tolls along the route.
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Where I live now, in Atlanta, we recently closed a $0.50 toll (GA400) because apparently we didn't need the money.
Re: Driving a Car in Manhattan Could Cost $11 Under Congestion Plan
#9It seems like it would be fairer to privatize the roads entirely and force the people who can actually use them to pay the entire cost. Otherwise poor people are subsidizing roads reserved for the rich that they can't even use.
What makes you think the best alternative to cut out the poor entirely?
My point is that charging both fees and taxes means that the poor are excluded, because they can't afford the fees, but they still have to pay part of the taxes.
Re: Driving a Car in Manhattan Could Cost $11 Under Congestion Plan
#10a friend was once visiting me in manhattan and decided to drive. He came over on the george washington bridge ($15 toll), missed his turn to my block and ended up getting turned around and going over to brooklyn (tunnel, of course: $8.50 toll), realized he was in the wrong place and turned around ($8.50 back through the tunnel). This, of course, was after driving up from Virginia via I-95, which has its own $20+ wort…
Freezing temperatures, salt, underground infrastructure, and large amounts of traffic increase costs tremendously. Additionally, sometimes the infrastructure cannot handle the demand, therefore demand has to be reduced, and the easiest (and maybe most optimal way for society) is to implement tolls.