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?
The cab issue is a tricky one. Cabs typically carry,I don’t know, 40-50 passengers a day as compared to one car with one person coming in and parking it. They should be exempt in my book just like buses will be. And then what about limo car service? Exempt I say but that would be self-serving.
I like the idea of a stroller tax.
There should also be a backpack tax and a luggage surcharge when travelling on the subways with half your apartment in tow.
I would particularly tax the people who walk into the subway with enough camping gear to get them through the winter in the Adirondacks, but instead they are at Lexington Avenue and 59th Street.
On my way home from work yesterday I asked a woman if she would mind putting her toddler on her lap to allow an elderly woman to sit in the seat occupied by her child. She rolled her eyes but she did it. I remember one of the first things that I learned to read as a pre-schooler was a sign that was posted in every train car and on every bus that said “Little enough to ride for free, little enough to ride your knee.”
any vehicle mini cooper size or smaller: free
any standard car: pay toll
any vehicle like escalade, navigator, etc: double toll
any vehicle with 3 or more occupants: free
One thing I have not yet seen discussed is how cabs will deal with the tolls. Will they be added to the fare? Combined with longer late-night subway waits, that seems to be a double burden on the non-car-owning outer-borough residents: either wait for the subway eternally, or tack $7 (or whatever the amount turns out to be) on a cab fare!
justwondering, scenarios like that are probably pretty likely, people will find the path’s of least resistance. i commute to jersey so may just suck up the 2 tolls instead of finding a way around it since it’ll probably be gridlock hell. hopefully the anti-car folks who love the subways will get their wish, and the already crowded subway lines will be even more so.
oh yes if you have three kids PLEASE use your car. do not muck up my subway commute. thank you very much. there is nothing worse than 2 year olds hogging up seats. and if you do insist on bringing in a stroller (btw im not anti stroller), leave the kid in the stroller, dont take him or her out and put it in a seat and leave a big space hogging stroller empty. der!
*rob*
If this is implemented, won’t it just lead to more people parking their cars on the Brooklyn and Queens side of these bridges and then taking the train a couple of stops to their final destination? I know people who live in Brooklyn’s two-fare zones who do this now.
I am supportive of a minor conjestion tax for anyone taking a car into a “central zone”, like what they have in London, Stockholm or many other major cities. I think this is fairer than a toll for those who use certain bridges.