Adding Tolls to Brooklyn Bridges?
Marty Markowitz was just on the Brian Lehrer show arguing against the Ravitch Commission’s proposal to add tolls to the three bridges in Brooklyn as well as the Queensboro Bridge as part of its solution to the MTA deficits. (Rosie Perez just called in agreeing with Marty too.) Are you in favor of adding the…
Marty Markowitz was just on the Brian Lehrer show arguing against the Ravitch Commission’s proposal to add tolls to the three bridges in Brooklyn as well as the Queensboro Bridge as part of its solution to the MTA deficits. (Rosie Perez just called in agreeing with Marty too.) Are you in favor of adding the tolls?
StuyIvy….LOL…from my observations that’d eliminat 3/4 of the cars parked in Bed Stuy. Always amazed at how many people are visiting from places like North Carolina!!!!
In a taxi, you as the passenger will most definitely pay the tolHave you not ever taken a cab to Newark airport, through the battery tunnel, or across the tri-borough)??
DIBS, the point remains (if I may say so) that Manhattan is not a separate city. Sure, it’s different from the outer boroughs, but that doesn’t make it a different city. Anyway, where do you think the majority of waiters, bartenders, shop clerks, janitors, secretaries, etc who serve Manhattanites live? Making the outer boroughs more expensive means more non-rich people throw in the towel and leave. A working/middle class is imperative to any city. Not everyone can be the CEO. Somebody has to scrub the toilets.
Most cities’ transit use a zone-based fare. I have always assumed that NYC does not for the obvious reason of throwing a bone to those in the lower economic classes. Even in the outer boroughs, NYC is a very expensive place to live. Lower income people would have a vastly better quality of life elsewhere. But then, who make our cappucinos?
AF, I have two children, born and (so far) raised here. No car ever. Several of my friends are in similar situations, although I will say all of my friends with three or more children have a car. Having a car is more convenient, but it is not a necessity. The City comes with the good and the bad. In many ways (e.g. playgrounds) it is a fabulous place to raise children. In other ways (pokey buses, non-working elevators in subways, smug and unreasonably furious childless people), it is a very frustrating place to raise children.
BedStuy11216, car services and taxis are your friend. Used judiciously, they really make things easier. Owning a car is hugely expensive (not even considering tolls), and you would have to take a car service pretty far several times a week to spend more money on that than a car. For the littlest ones, bring along a lightweight portable booster seat. You’ll have a lot of stuff with you, but it can work. Once I bit the bullet and allowed myself to use car services when I needed them, my life got a lot bigger and better. (Good for you for taking your nieces!)
I support E. River tolls because I think it wil reduce car — and most especially truck — traffic through Brooklyn. The volume of through traffic on Atlantic Avenue, turning onto Boerum Place to get to the (free!) Brooklyn Bridge is unacceptable, as are all the container trucks going up 4th Avenue to the (free!) Manhattan Bridge.
Reduced and free tolls should be made for certain categories of people: handicapped, elderly, etc. Does this already happen? If not, it should. Some people really do need to drive and shouldn’t be forced out because of conditions beyond their control.
I love how New Yorkers have all these diabolical plans on how to tax their fellow New Yorkers.
bedstuy11216 – I’m not anti-kid, though I don’t have and don’t want any of my own (I came from a big family too, which convinced me I don’t want one). I’m just confused why people use having kids as an argument against tolls. I pay taxes that support schools – happily, I might add – despite not having any children. Surely a family with children that feels they need a car can pony up the extra bucks to cross the bridges.
I didn’t understand the initial “spoken like a person without children” comment and still don’t. The assumption there is that a person with children couldn’t possibly have reason to support the tolls, which is a strange assumption.
Can we all agree that we’d all forego the bridge tolls and stop our inter-borough fighting and child raising/childless bickering if they implemented the commuter tax???
My suggestion is to have zone parking. This works so well in DC. The way it works is that each neighborhood is assigned a zone number. When you register your car, this zone number is included on your registration sticker. Street parking is limited to only 2 hours for parkers who park outside their home zone. Therefore, people who actually live in the neighborhood (and legally register their car in NYC) always have parking available to them. The majority of the parking problems come from people who live in NY and have illegally registered their cars in states like New Jersey, CT, Georgia, Virginia to avoid paying the NY registration fees and insurance. The city would make tons of money if all of these people actually paid to register their vehicles in NY…and even more money on parking tickets for the ones who didn’t.
People with kids, please give me a break, move to the suburbs, your property taxes will go up so much you will be begging to pay those bridge tolls.
bridge tolls, if it cost you to enter from the midtown tunnel then it is only fair that it cost to cross the Manhattan Bridge. Why do you think SOHO and Canal ST is crowded with Trucks? Cause the Holland Tunnel is free to NJ and the Verrazano charges like $40 for a semi. AND I HATE BACK PACKS. Any adult that wears one deserves a heavy fine. Grow up your not in middle school anymore.
The bridge tolls may free up the streets enabling Manhattanites to use their cars more. After all, driving is free if you live in Manhattan, unless of course you plan a trip to Brooklyn.