NYC Manhattan congestion levy proposal
01-19-18, 11:00 AM
#16
Lexus Champion
Congestion pricing could be implemented in a number of ways.
I agree but I believe that the size of the trucks allowed may have to be restricted. Smaller delivery trucks may ease congestion.
I agree. In fact, the number of Uber and Lyft vehicles has only added to the congestion. But the subway system would have to be fixed to make it more reliable. The legislators agreed, saying that NYC transit should be fixed before congestion pricing and restrictions are brought in.
The money raised from congestion pricing could and should be used to maintain the subway system.
Traffic, including taxi traffic, is slow in Manhattan because of the congestion. If congestion pricing successfully takes traffic off the streets, what is left should be able to travel faster.
I believe that you do need some regulated and licensed taxis on the streets to transport visitors to the city (tourists or business people). But price taxi rides into and out of city centre appropriately -- regular pricing to get out of the city but add a surcharge to enter the city.
As I said above, traffic, including bus traffic, is slow because of the congestion; reducing the congestion should increase traffic speed, including buses.
But reducing the size of buses to shuttle bus size (e.g. Ford Transit wagon, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter mini bus), along the lines of the Ford Chariot last-mile shuttle service is a good idea.
- Singapore uses a transponder and cash card system. All vehicles sold in Singapore have the transponder installed into which a cash card is inserted. Every time the driver enters the congestion zone or transponder-enabled parking lot, money is deducted from the card.
- London uses an online subscription service and automatic licence plate number recognition for validation / enforcement (and charging vehicles that are not registered). The subscription service works because London has different discounts and exemptions, including low emissions (non-diesel) vehicles.
- The automated toll highway in the Toronto area uses transponders and automatic licence plate number recognition for validation / enforcement (and charging vehicles that do not have a transponder). This technology (similar to the E-ZPass) could easily be adapted for congestion pricing.
b) There is very little reason to drive a private car or take taxi. It is simply faster to walk or take subway throughout the city. However, a lot of people that are driving around Manhattan are doing it because they are coming in from far away, and public transit isn't reliable. Would be great to have large parking lots near the crossings, so people could drive into Manhattan, park, and then walk or take subways.
The money raised from congestion pricing could and should be used to maintain the subway system.
c) Reduce number of taxis and ban Uber/Lyft in Manhattan. Toll the living crap out of the remaining ones during weekday business hours. One has got to be seriously lazy to take cabs around the city, because its much slower than walking and using the subway, and should pay premium for it.
I believe that you do need some regulated and licensed taxis on the streets to transport visitors to the city (tourists or business people). But price taxi rides into and out of city centre appropriately -- regular pricing to get out of the city but add a surcharge to enter the city.
d) Get rid of the god damn NYCT buses. They are slow, clumsy, redundant and useless. They simply don't belong on the city streets. Most of their routes are redundant with subway, but they move so slowly that is way faster to simply walk. Think about it - first you gotta get to the bus stop, then you wait forever for the bus, then it crawls at a snails pace, and then you got to get to your actual destination from the bus stop. The only people that take the bus around the city are old farts from $300 rent stabilized apartments in UWS with a lot of time to waste. Replace the buses with smaller 10-15 passenger vans, and instead of fixed routes have them operate using an app similar to Uber Pool.
But reducing the size of buses to shuttle bus size (e.g. Ford Transit wagon, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter mini bus), along the lines of the Ford Chariot last-mile shuttle service is a good idea.
01-19-18, 11:14 AM
#17
Di Blasio has discovered that, despite his best efforts (and that of Bloomberg, etc.), there are still people out there who want to come into Manhattan and spend money (Broadway, restaurants, tourists, blah).
And his job is to stop them.
If the high dollar businesses that will go broke from this have any brains (doubtful) they will offer to validate the toll off the bill, and say so.
And his job is to stop them.
If the high dollar businesses that will go broke from this have any brains (doubtful) they will offer to validate the toll off the bill, and say so.
01-19-18, 11:18 AM
#18
i am certain i will never drive in manhattan ever again in my life. 
manhattan is cramped, with millions of people. the only vehicles that should be there are delivery, transportation services, and govt services / law enforcement, etc. driving ones own car there is basically insane. it's slow, expensive, and risky.
manhattan is also facing many serious funding challenges so no doubt taxes will keep rising. and with the fed tax bill passed, many high rollers in manhattan are going to be paying a LOT more in taxes. some will leave. manhattan has had some awful mayors, but we'll see how the current bozo handles all this since he's obviously planning on running for president soon.
manhattan is cramped, with millions of people. the only vehicles that should be there are delivery, transportation services, and govt services / law enforcement, etc. driving ones own car there is basically insane. it's slow, expensive, and risky.
manhattan is also facing many serious funding challenges so no doubt taxes will keep rising. and with the fed tax bill passed, many high rollers in manhattan are going to be paying a LOT more in taxes. some will leave. manhattan has had some awful mayors, but we'll see how the current bozo handles all this since he's obviously planning on running for president soon.
And the fcking taxis and uber, I simply have no idea who takes them. I'm in Manhattan almost every day, and usually have many different stops that I go to, and I never bother with taxi or Uber, its much faster to walk or take train.
01-19-18, 11:26 AM
#19
As I said above, traffic, including bus traffic, is slow because of the congestion; reducing the congestion should increase traffic speed, including buses.
But reducing the size of buses to shuttle bus size (e.g. Ford Transit wagon, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter mini bus), along the lines of the Ford Chariot last-mile shuttle service is a good idea.
01-19-18, 11:31 AM
#20
Lexus Fanatic
The theater crowd is interesting--I was standing, legally parked, during Christmas, and an Explorer was backing into a space in front of me (west side maybe 48/50/52 facing East), and a Mitsubishi goes head in and took the spot. Explorer backed up and tough looking dude but decently dressed, gets out, goes up to the driver side. I was really surprised no fist fight. 20 min. later Mitsubishi leaves, Explorer backs in, and I put my window down, I saw the whole thing, surprised there was no fight. Guy goes we are peaceful people, what that guy did was not right, so I let him know it. He claimed he would only be there a short time, so we waited, as we're going to see a show.
01-19-18, 11:35 AM
#21
Lexus Fanatic
Reducing size of the buses so they could make turns without blocking intersection forever and having them run flexible routes via an app similar to uber pool - so this way they are far more useful to the passengers. Right now buses all over NYC (not just Manhattan) are a complete joke.
01-19-18, 11:50 AM
#23
I find it hard to believe that NYC is broke/having budget issues like some of you say. I mean the amount of $$$$ generated from property tax must be insane. How many $1 million plus apartments are in the city??? How much property tax is each one of those???? That's the one thing I like about where I live, the politicians(state and local) know how to do a balanced budget without an income tax.
01-19-18, 04:15 PM
#24
Lexus Champion
to an extent we already have a "congestion" charge in some areas if you consider that the 110 and 10 Freeways allow the use of single person vehicles in the HOV lanes if you have a fastpass and pay the toll.
01-19-18, 04:31 PM
#26
Lexus Fanatic
No. What we have on I-66 goes beyond simple "Express" lanes. You pay, with the transponder (EZ-Pass), during rush-hours, to use the road, period. The amount is constantly calculated by the number of cars on the toll-stretch vs. the number waiting on the entrance ramps to get in.
01-19-18, 04:34 PM
#27
Lexus Test Driver
I find it hard to believe that NYC is broke/having budget issues like some of you say. I mean the amount of $$$$ generated from property tax must be insane. How many $1 million plus apartments are in the city??? How much property tax is each one of those???? That's the one thing I like about where I live, the politicians(state and local) know how to do a balanced budget without an income tax.
The city is far from broke.I have no idea how it's possible that they misuse BILLIONS of Dollars every year.This additional tax is a drop in the bucket and none of the funding will go to help the MTA.
01-19-18, 04:50 PM
#28
It's affected the Bay Area too. On some parts of I-580 and I-680 the HOV lane which recently you could use if you had 2+ persons in the vehicle are now FasTrak lanes and you MUST have a FasTrak to use them, less the cameras get you and a nasty little bill follows a month later. So carpools now require the FasTrak, just having 2+ persons doesn't cut it now.
01-19-18, 05:36 PM
#29
Lexus Champion
Thread Starter
Interesting. There are a couple of obviously ideological posts here that mirror a lot of political views. Possibly people actually travelling during peak rush hours for Manhattan. OTH, bureacracy grows like the weeds you try and keep out of the lawn but keep coming back persistently.
Any kind of solution that's going to be enacted by a clunky bureaucrat is going to be essentially a large hammer when all you need is a finishing tool. The problem is that a large number of people do not want to share a transportation device with another large group of people. So they use private vehicles and want to use those private spaces to travel at the same time.
Sometimes, Americans do have a class system. It's just based on money vs European blue blood royalty. There won't be an ideal solution because of geography and peak demand. These types of tolls or fees never sell well, but they do also change behaviour over the long term and that is really the end game as opposed to simply trying to tax and spend on bureaucratic solutions or fund some sort of metro transit system.
Any kind of solution that's going to be enacted by a clunky bureaucrat is going to be essentially a large hammer when all you need is a finishing tool. The problem is that a large number of people do not want to share a transportation device with another large group of people. So they use private vehicles and want to use those private spaces to travel at the same time.
Sometimes, Americans do have a class system. It's just based on money vs European blue blood royalty. There won't be an ideal solution because of geography and peak demand. These types of tolls or fees never sell well, but they do also change behaviour over the long term and that is really the end game as opposed to simply trying to tax and spend on bureaucratic solutions or fund some sort of metro transit system.
01-19-18, 09:32 PM
#30
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
As someone who lives in NYC and drives to Manhattan several times per week - this will do ZERO to solve congestion.
Its nothing but a money grab by the politicians. Their answer is to just increase taxes how about stop the wasted spending on crappy initiatives. You have NY government workers making MORE in OVERTIME pay than they do in regular salary.
There is unbelievable amount of wasted spending on MTA, NY HRA, Court systems, Healthcare, Welfare, Illegal immigrants, public housing etc. And their best solution is to pass it on regular shmucks who are driving their cars/trucks to work, so basically the middle class thats not reliant on any entitlement programs!
Its nothing but a money grab by the politicians. Their answer is to just increase taxes how about stop the wasted spending on crappy initiatives. You have NY government workers making MORE in OVERTIME pay than they do in regular salary.
There is unbelievable amount of wasted spending on MTA, NY HRA, Court systems, Healthcare, Welfare, Illegal immigrants, public housing etc. And their best solution is to pass it on regular shmucks who are driving their cars/trucks to work, so basically the middle class thats not reliant on any entitlement programs!
I find it hard to believe that NYC is broke/having budget issues like some of you say. I mean the amount of $$$$ generated from property tax must be insane. How many $1 million plus apartments are in the city??? How much property tax is each one of those???? That's the one thing I like about where I live, the politicians(state and local) know how to do a balanced budget without an income tax.
And that doesn't cover the giant govt pension bomb about to go off.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/d...icle-1.3114183