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Congestion Pricing - Are you for or against it? - READ ONLY

79 messages,  Last post on Nov 17, 2012 at 8:14 AM

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Messages Page 4 of 8

#30 of 79 Re: Public roads [kirstie_h] by fezo

Jul 17, 2007 (12:56 pm)

Replying to: kirstie_h (Jul 17, 2007 10:56 am)
They will be hard pressed to improve on the Garden State Parkway. Considering the volume of traffic it sees the condition is amazing.
 
The turnpike on the other hand could probably be contracted to a kindergarten class and not run any worse.
 
If they are going to lease these things out I;d like to see some accountability built in. Without it these are just an invitation to print money.
 
I agree that public transit is mostly an abomination and for the reasons mentioned - high paying lobbyists to keep it at bay, lack of public will, cheap and plentiful gasoline... Most of us would take our won car anywhere rather than use mass transit.

#32 of 79 Re: Congestion Pricing: Are you for or against it? by arm51

Mar 12, 2008 (2:47 pm)

Congestion Charging is an interesting beast. I can understand how you would want to charge more or less depending on the fuel economy\size\CO2 emissions of the vehicle, but there is a point where it won't affect the amount of people bringing in high emissions cars into a congestion zone. If we look at London, one of the main reasons that Congestion Charging has worked is because of the Tube (as has been stated earlier). However, in London I believe that if you register your vehicle as a minicab, you don't have to pay the Congestion Charge. I may be wrong on this, but that is what I have heard. Also, the current push by Red Ken to increase the charge by up to £25 is ridiculous. Porsche has already stated that they would like a judicial review of the pricing proposal.

#33 of 79 Rather than taxing congestion by euphonium

Mar 12, 2008 (8:45 pm)

Quadruple the fines for being ticketed during the congestion periods.

#34 of 79 Congestion Pricing by boaz47

Mar 14, 2008 (4:13 pm)

Just could be the next cause of flight from the cities. Maybe living in a State that epitomized urban flight I might be tainted. Because at one time traffic in the city made it too hard to find parking so all the business started moving to malls and industrial parks. It seemed as if there was some movement back to the cities in the last few years. But if people are going to have to pay higher fees just to enter the cities why bother? Years ago I passed up a promotion working for Xerox because I would have to transfer to Santa Monica. Parking would have been a pain and housing was higher than the rest of the surrounding area.
 
Unless you have a reasonable public transportation like London you are punishing the working person.

#35 of 79 Interesting... by ny540i6

Mar 24, 2008 (2:22 pm)

As someone who lives in NYC, and lived in Manhattan for several years.... and owned/parked a car there!, this whole thing is multi-faceted. When I was paying $300 each month to park I kinda sucked it up... I could have done what friends did, and parked the car 30 minutes away, in a lot in Brooklyn or above 96th street and cut that in half, however convenience, my inability to manage a real schedule, and a demanding job made the lot in the basement of my apartment building "worth it."
 
Now I live on Staten Island, and have no choice but a toll bridge if I want to drive off the island - was my choice to move to SI, got more room, diff QOL, etc, so it was "worth it."
 
In theory, I understand cong pricing... in fairness, what I do for a living means I spend a ton of time in places other than midtown, and to be blunt, when I go in I have the option of billing it all as expenses. I see this costing the city: many of the folks who drive in are your middle/upper management driving in from LI, Westchester, and NJ. They are not going to stop driving in. They might stop buying lunch, they might choose to telecommute more often. They might choose to work from the satellite office. So they will be choosing not to spend time/money in the city.
 
What I hope is that measures like this drive more companies to understand that a centralized workforce, built around the "9-5" schedule is obsolete and counterproductive. The infrastructure exists for remote access to networks, decentralized (and productive) workers, less congestion, AND cleaner air.

#36 of 79 Congestion Pricing: DOA by oldfarmer50

Apr 08, 2008 (7:42 am)

Mike Bloomberg's grand plan to get his billionaire hand into the pockets of hard working men and women went down in flames today as the NYS legislature refused to even vote on the measure. The plan is now considered DOA for the time being.
 
Perhaps if the crooked pols who run New York State and NYC would stop stealing our money to pay for their hookers and to put their girl/boyfriends on the state payroll there would be money for improved mass transit. As it stands, every time there is a need for funding these bozos come up with a new fee (tax). Bloomberg can fly to work in his own helicopter so why should he care if we go broke getting to work.
 
 

#37 of 79 Re: Congestion Pricing: DOA [oldfarmer50] by michaell

Apr 08, 2008 (11:31 am)

Replying to: oldfarmer50 (Apr 08, 2008 7:42 am)
And New York's loss is (possibly) Colorado's gain.
 
Now that New York state won't be getting the $350 million from the federal government, the feds are now looking at alternative projects that could use the funding.
 
One of these projects is the widening of the Boulder Turnpike (aka US 36) from Boulder to the Denver suburbs. Possible uses include adding lanes (only 2 each way at the moment) or a dedicated car pool / HOV lane.

#38 of 79 here in San Francisco by nippononly

Apr 08, 2008 (4:55 pm)

they recently floated the very interesting proposal to initiate a congestion charge on one approach to the City (the one leading from the Golden Gate Bridge) in order to pay for its repair. Since it is a state highway (highway 101) it seemed outrageous to introduce a special fee to repair it, and so far it is bogged down over this issue.
 
To me, the more pertinent issue is how can it be a congestion charge if it doesn't penalize everyone entering a certain area? Under the proposal, entering SF from the east bay would not have incurred the charge, so the fee targeted the people in the bedroom communities north of the bridge.
 
How does the NY proposal work? Is it similar to London, where a circle is drawn around downtown on the map and everyone inside it has to pay?
 
In principle, I am FOR that type of charge in the few places mentioned previously that have (a) a huge downtown congestion problem; and (b) very effective public transit. From what I know of the U.S., I could count the cities that qualify on one hand: NY, Boston (I base this one on third-party info), Chicago, SF, and....???? Someone mentioned DC?
 
Also, has anyone studied what traffic and parking are like just outside the boundary of the congestion zone? Do lots of people drive as far as they can drive and then hit the transit only once it would cost them to drive any further downtown? If so, that stinks for the residents and businesses around there, doesn't it?

#39 of 79 Re: here in San Francisco [nippononly] by fezo

Apr 08, 2008 (5:01 pm)

Replying to: nippononly (Apr 08, 2008 4:55 pm)
The New York idea struck me as nuts. It was kind of like the London plan except rather than a circle they just drew a line across and said if you're below this line it's $8. Funny thing - the crossings from New Jersey, with the exception of the George Washington Bridge, all are south of the line so that the moment you hit the city you've been nailed. This would effectively end any voluntary visits to the city for me.

Messages Page 4 of 8

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