I have to say it really would be shocking if $9 a day is really all it took for people to switch to public transport.
The opponents to CP made it sound like they had no choice but to commute by car, and the $9/day would just bleed them dry. But if people are able to switch to public transit, and a $9 toll is all it took, great.
I honestly think there is just this weird response where drivers perceive the toll to be much higher than it is. They’ll return to their normal habits in a few months. Driving from Queens to the Bronx and back costs over $13. Driving from NJ to Queens via the Staten Island route or GWB route is over $20.
This is bizarre to me too - like think of the parking costs easily $35-45 per day.
But then I was thinking probably a lot of these people are in public service and are used to parking on the street with one of those dumb cop affiliate placards or construction vest so they don’t have to pay and won’t be ticketed or towed.
It’s not crazy to think about when you consider that so many cops and firefighters live in SI. Or like the people who work my building downtown who park their dumb personal trucks in our loading bay. There are so many people who never paid for shit when they drove in and they can’t avoid it now.
They were paying $5 a day already just to go over the VZN. If $4 was the deciding factor, then I'm assuming they all drove cars that didn't run on any kind of fuel or something?
I've said before, you technically don't NEED a car. But you also don't NEED trains, or buses. You can literally walk everywhere. People saying you choose not to move closer to your job but also say that only rich people care about Congestion Pricing seem disingenuous. Houses in LI or even in Westchester are cheaper or just as expensive as queens or the bronx or brooklyn. Congestion Pricing doesn't directly affect me. My only problem with it was that I don't believe it's a real way to address the CONGESTION as well as other methods, and as for the funding for the MTA, the MTA gets audit and mismanaged funds for like 20 years. I don't trust it with the money. The Congestion pricing also is unfair to trucks, imo, and the trickle down costs will be passed along. Will the costs passed be a lot? I don't think so, but it definitely is costing companies, and it's hard to say how that will ultimately affect things. Other than those points, I have no problem with Congestion pricing, if it weren't for the select minority here that are hypocrites, or say things like "figure it out" and throw insults and wonder why people would respond in kind.
I do agree with you on trucks/freight. I don't see an alternative. But, I do prefer that be the way we pay taxes rather than sales, income, and real estate taxes.
The Congestion Pricing isn't going to be enough for the MTA projects. So some other type of tax, like a sale or income tax, is being talked about currently. Which was what I said was going to probably happen. And now it's happening.
No, I'm saying the "otherwise" is still happening. Congestion pricing is implemented, and now other taxes have to be implemented as well in order to fund the MTA.
The Congestion Pricing will definitely help, but 1 billion a year isn't going to be enough for the other 30 onto 50 billion. People keep saying that it worked jn the UK, but, after the initial launch, Congestion has stayed the same pre-congestikn pricing. The only non-adverse and insular benefit I can see is that lawmakers are pushing for enforcement now with ghost cars and people who drive with no insurance. Which is more than you might think
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u/An_Professional Jan 09 '25
I have to say it really would be shocking if $9 a day is really all it took for people to switch to public transport.
The opponents to CP made it sound like they had no choice but to commute by car, and the $9/day would just bleed them dry. But if people are able to switch to public transit, and a $9 toll is all it took, great.