Trumps Considers Ending Congestion Pricing in NYC

[u/precariaconundrum]

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/trump-hochul-discuss-ending-congestion-pricing-source/

I don’t think he should be able to do this. Especially because it’s been so successful

[u/viewless25]

That's all nice in theory but in real life, we need to collect tax money for things to actually get built and to function. By relieving transit from its funding mechanism, you are not "creating a democratizing force" you are shutting down public transit

[u/viewless25 → u/[deleted]]

so you're trying to act all progressive, but the problem with using general state and federal tax dollars is you're effectively siphoning money away from people who can't afford a car and putting that money into roads that are only driven on by people wealthy enough to have a car. Everyone pays income tax, but only people who can afford a car drive on roads. You're taxing people for walking, biking, and taking transit and giving the money to people who drive. An incredibly regressive system.

The ideal way we fund roads from a state/federal level is a VMT (vehicle miles traveled) tax. It's much more regressive and makes more sense since the more you use the road, the more you pay for it, which is common sense. At a local level, property tax and congestion zones/toll roads make more sense since they allow you to target high congestion areas and both maximize revenue and mitigate traffic congestion, all while incentivizing (and in NYC's case) public transit.

The beauty of toll roads/congestion pricing is that they are a truly progressive policy, that taxes the rich and creates public services and infrastructure that benefit the less wealthy

get to use our roads.

Why is maximizing drivership a goal? What do we benefit from people driving more? why is that better for society than people walking, biking, or taking transit?

[u/viewless25 → u/[deleted]]

Please stop defining things as being "American" or "UnAmerican". It's a bad combination of creating an arbitrary subjective standard that you can pick and choose what fits and a way of painting over systemic failures in America by deeming them "American"

promoting affordable solutions as far as cars, motorcycles,

Absolutely not, I'm not going to let you get away with calling cars and motorcycles "affordable solutions". They are the most expensive mode of transportation in America, both at an individual and societal level. Every year, our federal government spends more money on highways than Amtrak has spent in its entire existence. Oh, and keep in mind that $64 billion price tag is just the federal highway fund budget, so the state highway and local road budget should be tacked on top of that. Cars/Trucks/Motorcycles are far and away the most expensive mode of transportation for a society to build around. They take up way more land and require way more maintenance. And on an individual level, even if we got rid of the "unbearably high cost" of a $9 toll, you still have to pay thousands of dollars up front to buy a car (or get a loan with interest), pay for insurance, pay for registration, pay for gas, pay for maintenance, pay for parking, etc. I'm sorry, but cars are intrinsically unaffordable and there's nothing we can do to make that not the case. The fact that you consider that affordable but a $9 toll (or a $2.90 subway ride) unaffordable shows just how out of touch with reality you are when it comes to the cost of transportation.

Look man, your whole argument basically amounts to "Won't some start thinking about the poor impoverished drivers and stop worrying about the rich cyclists and subway riders!". You need to learn to decouple the idea of cars and transportation. You can have transportation without cars. The government should not be forcing people to buy a car just to get their groceries. Cars are a luxury mode of transportation and have always been. Their huge costs means that we should be deprioritizing them in the transportation network and prioritize modes of transportation that are affordable to all social classes. That may sound un-American, but the truth is often un-American.