New Yorkers how do you feel about the congestion toll?

Fuck congestion pricing. What’s next, fees for using the sidewalk?

I thought I might slip through the cracks as my garage is on 11th Avenue. But apparently they are tracking you up and down the West Side Highway, and they will know that I entered the zone and then didn’t leave. So they’ll assume I parked somewhere (which I did) and will charge me regardless. I’m pissed. I already pay a shit ton in city income tax and parking taxes too. They aren’t giving local residents any breaks what-so-ever.

R1 Wait. If you can pay for a parking garage in Manhattan you can pay 9 bucks daily. You have to make at least 200K I assume.

Yes I can pay for it. That doesn’t mean I am happy to pay for it. Nor does it mean it is easy for me to pay for it. Nor does it seem particularly fair especially since I already pay exorbitant city income tax.

As a lifelong NYer I know these fees will never go away. It will be $25+ within a decade. And it will do nothing to alleviate traffic. Also, the MTA is one of the worst run organizations in the country. They lay 5x what other municipal transit authorities pay given poor contracting and extremely outdated union rules. So this is simply feeding the beast vs forcing management changes at the MTA.

Amen, R3. There is so much corruption, exorbitant pay and outrageous pensions, that taxes and tolls are really just flushing money down the toilet. The state GDP is almost that of Canada but the cities and state suck, crappy schools, infrastructure and no development of upstate communities.

Plus the city is spending several hundred million on illegals every year. Ample corruption going on with that to be sure.

R1, it's assholes like you – the ones feeling oh-so-entitled to their own parking spot in the city, since taking the train is just too fucking "ghetto" – that resulted in congestion pricing in the first place. Please do keep fucking around & finding out: we need way fewer B&T trash, so the more fees the better. Your fat fuck ex-governor / former Trump fellatio expert Chris Christie tried to prevent it, so that way we ALL know you're a piece of shit.

I'm sure you can find new work in Hackensack or Trenton, or Camden might work.

r6 I live here you ass-hat.

[quote] Fuck congestion pricing. What’s next, fees for using the sidewalk?

Because otherwise owning a car is free.

Uh, R6, R1 lives in New York City. Chris Christie was the governor of NJ.

I choose not to have a car and I really don't need one. I do feel this congestion pricing is another political scam, just like outrageous tolls on bridges that are falling apart. The money is going somewhere, but it is not to the MTA like they claim.

This isn't even gonna help the MTA that much

The subway fare will be going up soon

Cars should be disallowed in the city at all times

R12 That sounds smart!

I wonder if the opponents of congestion pricing in NYC are aware that London, Oslo, Milan, Stockholm and Singapore have it. Why is it unacceptable when your city does it? Greed (r3) doesn't seem like a valid reason for scrapping it.

It is about elected officials getting off on controlling people.

R14, every city is different culturally, geographically and politically. You really think New York and London are similar in any way?

[quote]Plus the city is spending several hundred million on illegals every year.

Documented immigrants awaiting asylum hearings are in no way "illegals" you fuck wad. Hopefully they will remain in NY state and become citizens and voters so we don't keep losing Electoral Votes to Texas and Florida!

Friend is Contracted Service Provider for FedEX with four trucks. Packages picked-up in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Four trucks X $14.40 each, six-days-a-week X 52 weeks. More than $17,000 a year. FedEX doesn't plan to increase prices to compensate contractors.

Fuck you, R17. They totally are.

R6. And they say New Yorkers aren’t friendly?

The asylum laws suck and third world countries are shitholes for a reason. The have no reason to walk across our border and demand asylum.

R21 bangs on like the stupid cunt she is. She's never even set foot in a so-called "third-world country."

Lots of fun chatter about this on X. The subway should be better. I agree with the skepticism about MTA using the new funds properly. I agree there's cases like people needing to visit hospitals that this might be difficult for.

[quote] I agree there's cases like people needing to visit hospitals that this might be difficult for.

There are only three hospitals left below 60th St.

Good call. Still might not be ideal if you need one of those for regular cancer treatments. Been trying to check out what some of the concerns are. Some make more sense than others! I'm curious how it all goes.

[quote] Still might not be ideal if you need one of those for regular cancer treatments.

This is not nor has ever been how cities are planned. If anything this should make hospital access for emergency vehicles much better so will improve general access to hospitals. Cab rides should be quicker therefore less expensive.

where did you go r6? we would all love to hear more of your wise and reasoned commentary.

R22, why would I want to, stupid.

Because it might give you some perspective, stupid gash MAGAt R28. You're a bigger piece of trash than anyone coming over here.

Cars kill more people in NYC than illegals

Actually, that would be electric bikes, R30.

I like the comments on this one.

Or he can just walk or take a cab. Driving only fifteen blocks just seems selfish.

R17 Fuckhead, you're wrong.

"The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Immigration Statistics also generally uses it. The term means the same thing as “undocumented immigrants,” “illegal immigrants” and “illegal aliens.” - Pew Research.

ABC NEWS August 20th 2024 :

"Undocumented migrants cost NYC $5 billion in 2 years; cost expected to double by 2025"

R34 LOVES Donald Dump--she voted for him twice! Cunt.

As if undocumented people have ANYTHING to do with congestion pricing. Leave it to a cunt MAGAt like R34 to demonize a whole group for something that has nothing to do wirth them. Fucking MAGAt moron.

And you are an idiot R30

Yo, idiots at R35 and R36....take it up with ABC News if you think it's false reporting.

Yo cunt R38--what does congestion pricing have to do with undocumented people?

R39 Are you unable to follow the fucking thread?

See post R17 (none of that was posted by me BTW) however, that is what I am responding to at R34.

And you're still not answering what undocumented people have to congestion pricing, IDIOT MAGAt R40.

You get what you vote for.

It wasn't on the balllot, R42, and neither was Kathy Hochul, who's behind congestion pricing.

R43 That part. It should be an issue New Yorkers get to vote for.

Kathy will be voted out.

If it means rich cunts bitching about having to pay to drive five blocks when they could walk, good, I'm all for it.

For the annoying dope at R41: ask R5

Okay, children:

The congestion pricing is through the MTA, which is a state agency.

The MTA has fuck-all to do with whatever the city is spending on migrants.

Why don't you answer a direct question instead of deflecting, R47? Can't you think for yourself? Of course we all know the answer to that.

R48, don't try to educate the idiot MAGAt at R47. We all know everything is the fault of migrants.

Yay. If it reduces the amount of fucking tour buses in midtown it will all be worth it.

Just curious, are the limos with drivers for MTA execs exempt from Congestion Pricing? The FDNY union is fighting it. And there are still lawsuits from Long Island and Connecticut.

[quote] [R48], don't try to educate the idiot MAGAt at [R47]. We all know everything is the fault of migrants.

And he also doesn’t live here, I’m sure.

[quote] And there are still lawsuits from Long Island and Connecticut.

I love that Long Island and Connecticut seem to think they deserve some kind of a say in a city policy in a place where they don’t live.

I get it, but I think it’s happening at the worst possible time. I’ve lived in the city for 25 years, and it’s never felt as expensive as it does now. This despite me having more money now than I ever have. It feels like literally every single thing has jumped exorbitantly since COVID times. This feels like one more slap in the face, and many New Yorkers are skeptical that it’s going to help an MTA that also feels worse than it has in my quarter century here.

I recall many years ago, there was a taxi strike for a day. The streets were so clear. Most of the congestion is due to taxis and Ubers.

Maybe just get rid of them

Pay the damn toll or get stabbed on the A train.

[quote] Most of the congestion is due to taxis and Ubers. Maybe just get rid of them

Great idea, 55, in a city of 9 million people! Maybe everyone should ride bikes everywhere, like Amsterdam.

That was for R55.

If you can’t handle it, well, maybe Manhattan, Kansas is more your speed.

I also hate when people say if you can afford x you can afford y. At some point that equation ends. Few people have limitless means, and when everything inflates in a city like NYC, even a high salary can stretch thin.

Then, R60, people shouldn't take on the ridiculous and unnecessary expense of a car.

Whatever- I can afford it- but it's still pretty cunty to charge me full fare to drive in my own borough. Residents in Rockaway get reduced fare to cross the Crossbay Bridge, which is in their own county. The same should apply to Manhattan residents. Though I'm all for taxing people from Jersey and Connecticut full price. Specifically the ones driving here to make money and utilize our resources without paying NYC income tax.

I don't drive every day, so the car sits in a garage more often than not. It's a luxury I'm willing to pay for. But if anyone thinks this isn't going to be passed onto them via small businesses (contractors, etc..), you're high. And like another poster mentioned above, it'll be over $20 within 5 years.

It will be expanded to other areas

Coz have you noticed that they installed those camera going above 60st as well, going UPTOWN!!

R60 I generally agree with that. But anyone who can afford a parking garage south of 125th street ANYWHERE in Manhattan is someone making big mullah or comes from money. I know it has to be at least $500 a month for even the cheapest ones.

[quote] but it's still pretty cunty to charge me full fare to drive in my own borough.

Why? You’d pay for street parking there with no issue right?

Totalitarian Mass Surveillance

They can park on the street, I know a few people do!

I'm admittedly unclear why they're charging people *in* Manhattan to use it, which IIRC isn't how it was done in London and possibly Singapore. You had to physically drive through an entry point into the city center to get charged, so obviously that excluded people already in the center.

Still, the point of it should be obvious to anyone even vaguely familiar with the travails of the MTA. They've been fucked for decades under state Republican control (the NY Senate was Republican until it flipped blue in the 2018 midterms), and while the Second Avenue Subway will remain the poster child for delayed extensions into perpetuity, the reality is that the ENTIRE subway needs tens of billions of dollars in ordinary upgrades solely to prevent fires and to replace switching gear that in some cases dates back even further than the Second Avenue line. (A single blowout of one of these antiquated items can shutter an entire subway line for hours & impact scores of people.)

I know NYC is already ruinously expensive, and I'd actually be fine with banning most privately owned vehicles from Manhattan entirely – or at least in a well-defined area, similar to what Paris is doing – but cars are already ruining the world, and 14th St. remains an interesting look at what a Manhattan where only public transit, taxis, rideshares, and *specific* Manhattan-bound suppliers could drive legally. I'm hoping it's what ends up happening for all.

And no, it's no form of "boondoggle." The funds will specifically be used for badly needed infrastructure, though I'm sure the incels on X are frothing at the mouth over it since it's doesn't help privileged white people.

R69 I think you are missing a point. Some people in Manhattan live above the entry point but have daily travel to and from below 59th street. To me they should just made it for the entire Island. Because most of the congestion is coming from Jersey and Long Island. If you don’t live in Manhattan you should not drive there.

But it’s so much easier going north-south in Manhattan with the subway.

I’d put money that even on a bad day, it’s faster to get from the UWS to Midtown or FiDi on the 1/2/3 or the A/C than it would be to drive.

Having to go East-West, which limits you to the 7, L, and the Grand Central-TImes Square shuttle, okay, fine. But seriously, I live two stops from Manhattan and it wouldn’t occur to me to both pay for the toll on either the Midtown Tunnel or the Queensboro Bridge when I can be in Grand Central in like, ten minutes. And that’s before the congestion pricing.

That so many cunts are complaining about this shows that it is clearly a good thing

NYC is such a cesspool. I got the hell out of there and my stress level is non-existent now. I can also breathe clean air. I have never met a happy New Yorker. Everyone is so miserable and the city is unbelievably drab and unpleasant. It’s gross. I feel sorry for anyone who is stuck there. They’re wasting their lives.

R73, whatsa matter? Did the big bad city make you realize you're a failure?

Right now, this morning in NYC, the Air Quality is good at 23.

There's nothing wrong with the air in NYC, you lying idiot R73. Maybe look at the smog in LA or New Delhi, where the current Air Quality is 316.

Congestion pricing needs to go hand in hand with eradicating the highly disturbed acting-out persons and aggressive panhandlers and putrid-smelling homeless persons from the subway system. Tough shit if it hurts them — their presence hurts NYC far worse. Remove them by force, over and over and over, if you want another 1M riders to use the system daily and to not opt for driving.

That, and system reliability issues.

Introducing congestion pricing when the subway’s reputation is worse than it’s been in years, feels more than a little dystopian.

[quote] Congestion pricing needs to go hand in hand with eradicating the highly disturbed acting-out persons and aggressive panhandlers and putrid-smelling homeless persons from the subway system.

R76 is conflating congestion pricing with social issues.

By the way, other cities have congestion pricing, including Singapore, London, Milan, Stockholm, and San Diego.

Ohhh, so, R76, people drive in NYC to avoid homeless people on the subway?

R73, where did you move to?

People have to deliver goods, the plumbers etc drive and they already charge an arm and a leg....

Well, you have 2 of each r80.

[quote] It’s gross. I feel sorry for anyone who is stuck there.

People used to talk obliquely about the 'sacrifices' required to live in New York. Maybe a little less now, some of the new Manhattan arrivals seem to have new luxury buildings and means to escape regularly. The collective mood in NY I wouldn't say is especially happy. Strangers can smile where I am now..it's a city too, but hostility and frustration is more avoidable? It's hard.

The first problem is living somewhere where theres a need to implement something like this, think about it, you're stupid for living there anyway, then you bitch about it? Do you remember the Sysco refers and the bodies piling up?

Please, R82, don't indulge the idiot NYC-hating troll.

And where do YOU live, bitch R83? Where would they have you?

San Diego and London and Milan all have congestive pricing. Not good enough for the likes of precious you? Fuck outtra here.

driving in athens greece is pretty fucked up too

R45, I am afraid a Magat will replace Hochul, but that bitch does have to go. I wish Tish James would run.

R70, just to clarify, I initially thought they meant driving AT ALL in Manhattan – even from 23rd to 26th or something – would trigger a toll. I assumed there was a northern boundary to the tolled zone, but I know my question didn't indicate it. Apologies.

OTOH I don't think including the literal entire island would be helpful: London started out with only Central London in its tolled zone, and NYC appears to be doing the same. Also, the large majority of its traffic is south of the park, so 59th tracks on that front. (Plus extending it to 96th or 110th would've raised questions of privileges being unnecessarily extended to the already heavily privileged.

R77 San Diego does not have congestion pricing. Any toll or HOV lane you, there is a free highway option.

So the article is wrong, then, R89?

R90 Didn’t read it. Perhaps it’s called congestion pricing. There is no equivalent of Manhattan’s congestion pricing in San Diego. Every route, highway etc there is a free alternative. Carry on.

Yes, R91, it's called congestion pricing, and San Diego is mentioned in the article:

San Diego – Southern California isn’t the first place you would think about when discussing progressive transportation policy. Often the only solution for California traffic planners is to pour concrete to deal with the insatiable appetite for new roadways among the perpetually sun-kissed drivers. San Diego has taken that concept, along with its conjoined twin implied demand, and tossed it out the window in favor of a highway-specific congestion-pricing scheme.

The scheme has been tweaked slightly to fit the geographic idiosyncrasies of South California: lots of cars, lots of highways, not a lot of density. It’s not a congestion cordon system like we see in London or Singapore but rather a dichotomous highway tolling system where, if you’re willing to pay, you can zoom by drivers wallowing in the infinite gridlock by using a an express lane that runs parallel to the original highway. These toll-lanes have been called “Lexus Lanes” by activists who see them as just another way that efficiencies favor the rich and the poor will have to deal with high traffic volume until Armageddon (or Carmageddon?), but these toll-lanes were, for better or worse, designed around opportunity costs rather than nominal equality in transportation. People who need to get somewhere fast will pay fast to get there, US$8 be damned, and people who can wait, will wait.

R92 I know exactly what it is. I sometimes use it. I figured congestion pricing must be some type of all encompassing phrase. There is no free alternative to drive below 60th street in Manhattan or enter from Jersey or the boroughs.

R69 for London there is a residents discount to the congestion charge. Something like 90%. After a certain point the rules changed though and you cannot claim residents discount if you *became* resident inside the congestion zone which I think is unfair.

NYC is just getting even more ridiculously expense.

Interestingly, 10 years ago, my office would get tons of applications from around the country whenever there was a job opening. So many people wanted to relocate to NYC. Nowadays, we only tend to get applications from those who already live in NYC. It's just to expensive and people around the country keep getting news of NYers being pushed in front of subways--so they think it happens to everyone

[quote] It's just to expensive and people around the country keep getting news of NYers being pushed in front of subways--so they think it happens to everyone

Even though MTA does 3.5 million rides a day. Crazy I know! I think it's the internet too where people can work remotely more. And if you ask me some other cities have caught up with food offerings and things. It's centrality is diminished.

We can’t afford to live here anymore. My wife and I are looking to move out of NYC.

R97, where are you moving to? Texas?

I work from home three days a week, but I'm onsite out on Long Island two days a week, and often go out one day each weekend to do per diem work.

Anyway, this was the first "normal" Monday of the congestion pricing, and while I don't know if I should credit it or not, this was one of the easiest commutes back that I've had, at least in normal hours. Usually traffic on Horace Harding just crawls along between about Elmhurst and about Sunnyside, but it moved at mostly normal speeds. The slower portion of the commute was actually the part on the island.

Bad PR r95. There are crazy freak occurrences but for the vast majority of NYers they ride everyday and never fear for their safety.

But the right wing media machine will convince people who aren't familiar with NY that it's a warzone down there. So many people afraid. Like these tourists telling their story at link.

I could give a shit about people wanting to drive a car in Manhattan. I ride the subway 3 to 4 times a day and have never had a single problem. Go live in fucking bumfucke if you need your precious selfish bubble to pollute the earth with

R98, no, we’re moving to Canada. Not Toronto or Vancouver or Montreal though.

[quote]But the right wing media machine will convince people who aren't familiar with NY that it's a warzone down there.

No, you're wrong.

The one who convinced people who aren't familiar with NY that it's a warzone down there was left wing Kathy Hochul.

Well, we now know how Dump feels about it.

R104 But what about state rights.

Sorry sweetie. Kathy Hochul is many things but she is not left-wing. In a sane world, she'd be a Republican.

I understand how the subway system desperately needs the money. It also has seemed to decrease car traffic somewhat, which is a good thing.

I hate paying $9 but I only drive in once a month or so.

Why would you want to drive your car into the one place in the whole of the nation that isn't built to accommodate cars?

The article said it wasn't clear at all that Dump can just enforce this. We'll see a lot of this kind of meddling into the states' business--if it suits the asshole in the WH.

Why do people think the President is all-powerful? He isn't. There's nothing he can do about local traffic policy.

For those of you who hate the congestion pricing - do you think being stuck in traffic is cost-free? Besides all the pollution you're spewing into the air that the rest of us have to breathe, you're also wasting your own time. Congestion pricing dramatically cuts down on commute times. Is that not worth anything?

Yeah it what world is Hochul "left wing" r103. Just because someone has a D next to their name does not make them a progressive.