Remember this Sci-Fi film?
Posted on 01/06/2007 10:20:13 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
MC5 BUMP!
The Tri-State Chapter might be interested in this one.
The Port Authority of NY&NJ should jump on this - raising tolls at the Holland and Lincoln tunnels would be a boon for them, ... they could even have a sliding fee schedule for the PATH, charge more in the morning when demand is inflexible!
But how about those who live there?
In order to go on vacation, we still have to get our car out of the garage, drive it to our apartment, and load up the luggage.
Most sensible people do this on Sunday morning, when there is hardly any traffic.
I'm not sure you'd even be charged for such a short distance. It depends on how the plan shakes out, I guess.
I noticed the article didn't mention it, skated around the issue, really, but the "problem" is not the working folks trying to get to/from work everyday, its the legions of unworking stiffs who have nothing better to do but get in the car by themselves and tool around the city, getting in the way of everyone else who is trying to earn a living...just because they can. This is a tough issue, these folks buy gas and pay the same gas taxes as everyone else, but the commuter in me really despises them. I would gladly pay more to get people who don't really need to be on the roads, off the roads and out of my way. But I think a better way would be to get more trucks off the road during peak hours...at least here in California, that would be great.
That's why they are called "public" roads. One man's "wasting time" is another's "scouting and familiarization".
heh heh heh
Journalists! What don't they know!
I guess I'm going to be an iconoclast on this one. If New Yorkers want to try this, let them. It's their city and they should be able to run it the way they want. In my understanding of the American system, the states and the local communities are like separate "experiments," trying out this idea and that, as a way to weed out bad ideas and introduce good ideas to the nation as a whole. (I forget the precise term used by one of the founders about the states being "experiments," and I'm sure someone will flame me as a reminder.)
Let New York go ahead and obligate drivers to pay tolls south of 60th street. I grew up in Connecticut - one joker once suggested that the license plate read "The Toll Booth State" - and tolls were a pain but they didn't kill us. We'll see what happens in 10 years.
I don't think this measure would have as much impact on residents of the outer boroughs as people might think. If you go out on the streets of midtown Manhattan today, it quickly becomes apparent that the single biggest culprit in the city's congestion problem is the taxi cab industry. Some years ago when the taxi drivers staged a two-day strike to protest their low fares and working conditions, there was so little traffic on the west side of Manhattan that it was almost delightful to walk around there.
That is all very well, but how are people who are unable to walk, or unable to walk very far, supposed to get around?
Not only do I remember the fabulously crappy and fun film "Escape from New York," I've run 5,000 miles away to a village of 700 next to the Arctic Circle. When we have a traffic jam it means we can see another car using the road. Note the phrase "the road." LOL
what they're gonna do is simply make the island of manhattan a gated community
and permit the workers to enter/exit via mass transit.
my father used to rant on and on about our nyc,esp.after robert moses cleaned out thousands during the constuction of lincoln center....and destroyed entire working class neighborhoods..."this property condemned" etc.
"they want IT only for the rich".........and wait....times square's gonna be a disney land,they're going to clean it out."---- how we used to laugh ,but he was dead serious and very angry..and knew what he was talking about.
Notice how “Congestion Pricing” is brought in, only AFTER all the subsidies & market distortions ("free pub. goods") had been liberally used - causing the overuse, over population (excessive demand), and lack of economic responsibility/sensitivity to price signals.
In other words, PRICES DO WORK. But after first being vigorously IGNORED, they are then later “TRIED” as a solution, only in the end!
Average politician's thought process: "Gee, where DID all the “Congestion” COME FROM, in the FIRST place? Gee, I don’t know! Odd, Huh?" etc
By the way, the Reason Foundation did a study of Calif. highway congestion, and found that almost HALF (40%) of rush hour congestion involves NON-WORK related trips. So, having people PAY to use the roads during rush hour would help eliminate most of these 'non-urgent' travel patterns.
4L
The consumers are deciding every day.
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