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?
I wonder how this would work for cabs? If the toll is one-way (Manhattan bound, for example) will you have cabbies refusing to ride to Brooklyn because they will get hit with the toll on the way back? (And to the haters, please don’t jump all over me for admitting I take cabs.)
Maybe it’s just me, but I also think there are psychological implications to the proposed tolls. New York is unique among great cities for allowing us to travel from end to end without financial penalty. People who ride 10 miles to work by subway pay the same as those who go 2 miles. And there are hefty tolls to come in or out of the city, but none to travel within. I won’t argue the MTA doesn’t need the money, or that I have a better solution, but I do think if this goes through our sense of the city as a union between the boroughs will suffer.
Pete…Manhattanites pay a lot more to live there…the real estate is more expensive, the drinks are more expensive, the taxes are more expensive. That argument about Mahnattanites getting a free ride to go to NJ doesn’t hold any water. Besides, why go to NJ anyway except to get to PA???
Don’t get me started on the one borough thing. Manhattan is as different from the other boroughs as night is to day. It’s just physically close.
I think that part of the argument against these tolls is that there should be free movement among the boroughs. So, if tolls are added to these bridges, there should be a fare for the SI ferry.
Dave,
Manhattan is not a city – it is one borough of our city. Even though elitists would rather not consider the 80% of NYC population that doesn’t live in Manhattan as residents.
Tolling all east river bridges makes operating cost higher for businesses in Brooklyn/Queens that need to travel back and forth over bridge. And commuters to NJ, Bronx, etc will bear significant higher costs –
generally making living in Brooklyn less desirable and costly.
I know all the anti-car pro public transit people love the idea – but they focus on people who drive to midtown for work – forgetting that those people are few (in % terms) – and people are driving to further places that not practical to take public transportation.
Now for us to go to NJ – we need to pay more than someone from Manhattan….2 tolls to get there.
Really makes the majority of NYers 2nd class while Manhattanites don’t pay a single cent more.
I used to take a cab home to Brooklyn many a night by way of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and you as the passenger pay the fair. The cabs that have an easy pass just go through and then you reimburse them when you pay the fare at the end of the ride and those who don’t like to get the cash from you up front at the toll.
I think it’s the same as driving a private car. You want to use the bridge? You should pay the toll.
So many of you are anti kid, or I should say anti multiple kids. Why so nasty about it? I don’t get it, I am from a big family (7 kids) and I love it. I have one of my own but I am raising 2 of my neices.
I don’t currently have a car because I am strapped with house renovations but I can tell you that it severly handicaps what we can do and where we can go. And yes you can get to place x from place y; but it is not easy, cheap or enjoyable. When we take the train to go shopping it is a nightmare of bags, strollers and constant vigalance to make sure all the kids are safe and still with you when you get off.
As soon as we can afford it again we are getting a car.
Own a car, pay for the car. That means repairs to roads and bridges. Tolls will reduce traffic, pollution and noise and put the fiscal responsibility on those that use the roads.
Even better – toll by time AND weight of vehicle. SUVs and Ratners Bentley pay extra.
And Brooklyn becomes the eutopia I’ve always dreamed of . . .
Haha! Dave that’s ok w/ me, I’m one of those babywearing weirdos.
I agree on the backpack tax. And it should be doubled for anyone not a student. Only carpenters’ tool bags should be exempt.
And what are those new oversized fanny packs that the hipsters are now wearing over their shoulders? Ridiculous.