New York City’s congestion pricing program is moving forward with a $15 fee on passenger vehicles, reports Stephen Nessen in Gothamist, after the MTA board voted to approve it. The program now enters a 60-day public comment period before a final vote.
Nessen points out that “The stakes are high for the program. Congestion pricing has been successfully implemented in other countries. But the MTA’s program represents the first effort in the United States to impose a fee to reduce gridlock.” Additionally, “The tolls are required by law to back $15 billion worth of loans, which accounts for nearly a third of the MTA’s 2020-2024 construction program.”
The program includes exemptions and fare discounts for low-income drivers, emergency vehicles, and drivers who already pay certain tolls. “Small trucks, buses and vans face a $24 charge during those hours, while large trucks, including big rigs, will have to pay $36. Motorcycles will be tolled a $7.50 daytime fee.” The fee is reduced by 75 percent during nighttime hours.
Sounds good overall, should reduce traffic levels significantly and make people consider whether they really need to drive their car in such a compact city.
Not sure if I agree with tolling motorcycles though, they don’t take up anywhere near the same footprint as the average car
Well what are we tolling? Square footage? Noise? Carbon emissions? Deaths and injuries? Yes. Motorcycles are better in some categories and worse in others
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Literal nonsense. Idiots make their bikes loud because they’re annoying idiots, not for some moral reason.
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Yes, quite obviously so…
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https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moral
You should probably give it a read, I guess.
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fair point that I didn’t consider! my assumption would be traffic, seeing as the toll is branded as “congestion pricing” - which wouldn’t really make sense for motorcycles because they make up so little of the actual cause of traffic in NYC (large motor vehicles).
If we’re talking about noise though, and how clean the engine burns fuel, motorcycles are 100% guilty as charged IMO.
Deaths and injuries is a little muddier because there are several factors at play, fault could lie on any individual involved in the accident, or maybe even the road design itself. I don’t think these would be robust enough to use as the sole basis for a toll fee
Motorcycles are loud and the exhaust can be pretty bad, we don’t want everyone buying one to get around the congestion fees. They still take up more space than a standard bicycle or someone who took the subway.