Congestion pricing is good for low-income residents
Congestion pricing is good for low-income residents
Why New York’s new traffic policy is the opposite of elitist.
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When you were living in Queens and working in Manhattan, were you driving into Manhattan? Even for people who do have a car in the outer boroughs, most take public transportation to get into Manhattan.
If you were driving in, parking in a garage in Manhattan for the day can be like $50. Then there's the time it takes to go 20 blocks in gridlock because there's so much traffic. Having a car is expensive, and if programs are put in place to fund and expand public transportation, and discourage car travel that's wasteful of resources in the most densely populated places in the country, that's a good thing.
Realistically, the people who this impacts the most are the people from Long Island who use Manhattan as a free alternative to get to NJ, rather than paying for the Verrazano.
were you driving into Manhattan
Yes. The company I worked for had a small parking garage with a raffle every year for spots. I was lucky enough to get one, so the only costs in commuting was the cost of fuel. But it was cheaper. Significantly cheaper. I lived near St. Johns University and worked near Broadway and E 23rd (near flatiron). Between 10-12 miles, depending on which way you took. About a 10m drive, a 30m subway ride, or a 1h bus ride.
Subway cost $3. Bus cost $5-7 (don't really remember, only had to take it twice or so). And driving? Maybe $2-3 in fuel total per day. Taxi was $30. Subway was Astoria-Ditmars Blv to 34 St-Herald Sq with a few minutes of walking mixed in. Driving was hopping in my car and taking 31st down as far as it was open and running through Queens-Midtown ~$7 with EZ-Pass (reimbursed by my company) and driving to W 33 and 6th Ave. So I could spend $5900 in fuel and tolls per year which was reimbursed to me (and a write-off), or I could spend $1600/yr on metro cards which was not reimbursed.
I'm not saying its best for everyone. But to pretend like it's good for everyone is astonishingly dumb to say.
Realistically, the people who this impacts the most are the people from Long Island who use Manhattan as a free alternative to get to NJ, rather than paying for the Verrazano.
I lived in Mastic (Long Island) for over 30 years. I can count on a single hand the number of people willing to drive through the fucking city to get to NJ instead of just taking the bridge... This is the dumbest statement I've ever heard...
Your company was reimbursing you for two $7 midtown tunnel tolls every day ($14/day), and providing you free on-site parking, but $9 for congestion pricing is too much?
As got going through Manhattan to get to NJ, it is one of the defacto routes from LI. The Williamsburg bridge to the Holland Tunnel is like 5 of the busiest blocks through Manhattan that was toll free. For anyone on the north shore off the LIE looking to get to the turnpike, Google will always suggest going through Manhattan. Same goes for getting to Newark airport, even though the Goethals bridge is about the same distance away from the tunnel.
Your company was reimbursing you for two $7 midtown tunnel tolls every day ($14/day), and providing you free on-site parking, but $9 for congestion pricing is too much?
They're public roads. I already helped build them, and maintain them. It's not about cost. It's about NYC putting out their hand and saying "you need to help pay for this" and "you need to help maintain this" because it's public infrastructure then having the balls to say "okay, now that you helped us build it and maintain it, now you gotta pay to use it."
That's not how public infrastructure works. Either it's public, and it's everyone's responsibility and privilege to use, or its not.
public spending has nothing to do with being able to use it, especially for free.
you're not getting free corn, nor free medicine, even tho both are heavily publically funded.
Fact is, the Manhattan metro area can't support the amount of people commuting via care as there were.
You won a company parking raffle but you're generalizing your situation to everyone. Most people don't win company raffles. Help me understand how your experience applies to most low-income residents.
I didn't own a vehicle the entire time I lived in NYC and very few people I knew did. The ones who did only used their cars on weekends. For most of the time I lived there, I had two trains with an underground transfer at Times Square. It still wasn't worth the hassle and cost of owning a car. Parts of Queens and Brooklyn can be a different story for getting around locally, but my commute most days was just 25-30 minutes each way. I moved away a few years back and miss the freedom and walkability.
Low-income people use the subway and cross-town buses.