It’ll cost $9 each time. They’re raising money for the mass transit system by charging specifically those people who don’t use the mass transit system and that feels really unfair to me.
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Sigh, mass transit will benefit you as well, it means that more people will use it rather than taking the car, thus reducing traffic in general.
Taxes are also often used to change behaviors in the population, by adding taxes like these, cities have been known to try and reduce pollution and congestion making the area less harmful.
TL;DR: Congestion charges are annoying, but in the end will benefit you as well.
I believe OP is talking about NYC’s Congestion Pricing.
Yeah, I live inside the congestion pricing zone.
And you have a car?? In Manhattan??? Are you made of money?
No, just made of privilege
Right?! I know several people in Manhattan (who are pretty well off tbh), and even they don’t own a car. Why would you in Manhattan?!? How privileged does this person have to be? People are unable to afford groceries right now and they’re complaining that they might have to pay a few bucks because they don’t want to take a train
Those people who can’t afford groceries shouldn’t be complaining either. After all, they’re not literally starving and there are starving children in Africa…
I did notice this news article that mentions:
New Yorkers who live within the Congestion Relief Zone will not be charged to drive or park around the area. They will only be charged once they leave and cross back into the zone.
I’m not familiar with NYC, but isn’t this exactly the opposite of their goals? If you are staying within the congestion zone, you should be taking a different form of transportation. It’s only when leaving that area that you have a (potentially) valid reason to take your own car.
Most congestion pricing schemes rely only on tolling the boundary and generally target central business districts with little internal traffic. The technology is there to install more internal tracking of traffic, but you’d probably push up against privacy groups and the deployment of the tech would be a lot more expensive.
This is kind of where my thinking was at. Although I don’t know how you’d implement taxing that.
Tax it as part of registering your vehicle to an address within the congestion zone.
Protip: You could avoid the $9 toll by using the mass transit.
More mass transit = fewer people in cars = better driving experience for people in cars (you).
I won’t blame you for preferring to drive a car; the US is practically built for cars, and even what little public transit you have access to is of poor quality compared to what you can find in the likes of Germany and Hong Kong. And people love to complain about Germany’s Deutsche Bahn.
NYC is trying to solve the issue of traffic congestion. You’re stuck in that rush hour traffic? Sorry, but you are the traffic. Deterring drivers from driving into the city is the whole point. It is supposed to suck for you, but it will make the locals happier since they’d have less noise pollution, air pollution, more walkable areas, and faster emergency response times.
To be fair, Deutsche Bahn is an actual pile of shit, thats why people love complaining. Last time my train ran less than 5min late mustve been around 2005.
Oh I know; I’ve watched Jet Lag.
Berlin’s bus and metro system is pretty sick, though, ngl.
You’re costing society by driving your private vehicle at all let alone in downtown manhattan. The least you could do for all of the lung cancer, asthma, and road fatalities you’re contributing to is pay some money.
good
I once knew someone who commuted into NYC each day by rail – drove to the train station, and went from there. Can move out of NYC and commute in, I suppose. Housing will probably be cheaper. Was a long commute.
that feels really unfair to me.
Well, I mean, the real limited resource that they’re charging for is gonna be the available road space, as they’re going to be trying to reduce traffic load, I expect, as the road network is just overloaded. I don’t know if there’d be a realistic alternative to provide much more road space in Manhattan with the funds. Like, where would you put it? They’d have to bulldoze tall buildings or something.
People without sense want to get rid of central park, and turn all the subway lines into underground roadways.
At that point you might as well build another set of roads above the current street level.
Repeat as needed.
Moses almost got his highway through the Empire State Building.
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You live in literally the best transit area in the entire nation. One of the best in the world.
Take Transit. You are lucky enough to be in one of the areas where you aren’t forced to drive. You are incredibly privileged to live there, and are able to take transit to pretty much wherever you like.
Plus it’s lower Manhattan. You said you live inside the congestion zone, which means lets be real, this is a drop in the bucket compared to actually driving there. Just your car you probably pay for storage, some of the highest gas in the country, and the highest insurance in the country, and you’re still complaining that there’s a slight tax now because you are choosing not to take the incredibly convenient, regular, and world renown subway system?
Even in NYC (where driving is particularly slow and mass transit is particularly well developed) it’s still usually significantly faster to drive than it is to take mass transit unless you’re traveling within Manhattan or between two stops of the same express train. The trips I frequently take are about twice as fast by car as by mass transit, so from my point of view I am forced to take mass transit (when I have nowhere to park at my destination) while people outside the city have the luxury of quickly driving directly from where they are to where they want to be.
I’m not going to get into my opinion of how pleasant (or not) taking mass transit is compared to driving, because that’s subjective. However, I will note that according to the MTA’s own survey, a little over half of the people who do take mass transit are dissatisfied by it.
Mass transit is necessary here because the city has an old layout not designed for cars and so it wouldn’t be able to function if everyone had to drive. That doesn’t imply that mass transit is pleasant or convenient. It’s just often the only option.
Mass transit is necessary here because the city has an old layout not designed for cars and so it wouldn’t be able to function if everyone had to drive.
Cities shouldn’t be designed for cars. They should be designed for people. I get it. They’ve added a tax and that’s inconvenient. I agree.
I live in a European city with a medieval layout. I’m happy they started banning cars. Our city is more liveable without than with cars.
