The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally Makes That Plain
1–10 of 375 posts
Re: The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally Makes That Plain
#2I mean infrastructure is what everyone points to when one asks “what am I even paying taxes for?” Often even the short hand of “roads”.
Re: The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally Makes That Plain
#3It's sad to see congestion pricing in America. I had hoped that the long-lived cultural freedom of driving would keep it at bay for longer, but I guess not anymore.
I live in Sydney. It takes a 45 minute drive to visit a family member, who is sick and homebound. To do so in the shortest and least congested route, I must pay 3 tolls: $14.85 total, one way; $30 dollars a trip.
Public transport is not a suitable option. Instead of 45 minutes one way, the combined trip time balloons to 2 hours (4 hours to and back) due to poor proximity to train stations, and bus connections that require waiting.
Every time I drive, I feel less free to move around my city. I feel less free to visit my friends and family. 'Freedom of movement' isn't some crazy lunatic idea. It is an important part of living for many people.
Re: The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally Makes That Plain
#4I mean infrastructure is what everyone points to when one asks “what am I even paying taxes for?” Often even the short hand of “roads”.
Bad infrastructure causes people to ask "what am I even paying taxes for?"
The actual answer is "An insurance company with an army"
Re: The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally Makes That Plain
#5It's sad to see congestion pricing in America. I had hoped that the long-lived cultural freedom of driving would keep it at bay for longer, but I guess not anymore. I live in Sydney. It takes a 45 minute drive to visit a family member, who is sick and homebound. To do so in the shortest and least congested route, I must pay 3 tolls: $14.85 total, one way; $30 dollars a trip. Public transport is not a suitable option.…
That sounds like a rough commute, I sympathize. What I'm hearing is that Sydney needs to be funneling more of the toll revenue into the transit budget so that trains and buses would be a real option for you.
As a resident of Chicago, I would be in favor of congestion pricing within a few miles of the loop. The traffic congestion doesn't just affect other drivers, but those of us walking, biking, and using public transit. I would welcome a far quieter city with less road noise more priority given to multi-modal transit.
Due to Chicago's budget issues I'm not sure how to do that beyond providing direct incentives to do something besides drive.
Re: The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally Makes That Plain
#6It's sad to see congestion pricing in America. I had hoped that the long-lived cultural freedom of driving would keep it at bay for longer, but I guess not anymore. I live in Sydney. It takes a 45 minute drive to visit a family member, who is sick and homebound. To do so in the shortest and least congested route, I must pay 3 tolls: $14.85 total, one way; $30 dollars a trip. Public transport is not a suitable option.…
You seem to be describing congestion pricing working as intended. To go by the shortest, least congested route, you have to pay the tolls. If the tolls weren't there, it would not take you 45 minutes to make this trip. The real problem, as you point out, is the absence of adequate public transit.
Re: The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally Makes That Plain
#7It's sad to see congestion pricing in America. I had hoped that the long-lived cultural freedom of driving would keep it at bay for longer, but I guess not anymore. I live in Sydney. It takes a 45 minute drive to visit a family member, who is sick and homebound. To do so in the shortest and least congested route, I must pay 3 tolls: $14.85 total, one way; $30 dollars a trip. Public transport is not a suitable option.…
“freedom of movement” should be free as in speech, not free as in beer.
Re: The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally Makes That Plain
#8It's sad to see congestion pricing in America. I had hoped that the long-lived cultural freedom of driving would keep it at bay for longer, but I guess not anymore. I live in Sydney. It takes a 45 minute drive to visit a family member, who is sick and homebound. To do so in the shortest and least congested route, I must pay 3 tolls: $14.85 total, one way; $30 dollars a trip. Public transport is not a suitable option.…
> 'Freedom of movement' isn't some crazy lunatic idea. It is an important part of living for many people.
Your being able to drive for free comes at the expense of my being able to walk about town freely. I have to worry about being struck by vehicles and about all the soot I breathe in, and I have to take less favorable routes because some road crossings are just too dangerous. You're arguing your own peculiar interests here rather than what's good for everybody, or what's good for our country overall.
Re: The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally Makes That Plain
#9It's sad to see congestion pricing in America. I had hoped that the long-lived cultural freedom of driving would keep it at bay for longer, but I guess not anymore. I live in Sydney. It takes a 45 minute drive to visit a family member, who is sick and homebound. To do so in the shortest and least congested route, I must pay 3 tolls: $14.85 total, one way; $30 dollars a trip. Public transport is not a suitable option.…
Your freedom to drive where ever you choose on the fastest route infringes on freedoms of others, for example:
* their freedom to drive on the fastest route possible * their freedom not to have a large road in front of their home * their freedom not to have their taxes invested in a road infrastructure ballooned to a level that they might not need * their freedom to live in a world that is not inflicted by global warming
Freedom to move does not mean you can do so at any cost to the freedom of others.
Re: The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally Makes That Plain
#10It's sad to see congestion pricing in America. I had hoped that the long-lived cultural freedom of driving would keep it at bay for longer, but I guess not anymore. I live in Sydney. It takes a 45 minute drive to visit a family member, who is sick and homebound. To do so in the shortest and least congested route, I must pay 3 tolls: $14.85 total, one way; $30 dollars a trip. Public transport is not a suitable option.…
“freedom of movement” should be free as in speech, not free as in beer.
"Free as in speech" is very, very close to "free as in beer".
For all practical purposes it doesn't cost me anything more than my time to exercise my free speech rights.
Something that's nominally "free" from direct government control but the government gets to dictate the monetary cost of using it is not free by either definition.
Anything that increases the monetary cost of freedom of movement (time is not such a big deal because rich and poor alike have 24 hours in the day, hence I don't see traffic jams and crowded subway platforms being that big a deal) is a bad thing, even if the increase is a trivial amount to the upper classes. Mass transit (not the same thing as public transit though the sets intersect) should not be like a restaurant where you pay $50 for a $20 meal because that keeps the poors out and that is exactly what congestion fees and tolls are designed to do.