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Notes -
Here's something we haven't talked about yet: congestion pricing.
Recently, New York's congestion pricing scheme went live. Drivers who wish to enter lower Manhattan must pay a toll of $9. Almost immediately after the toll went live, traffic congestion got a lot better.
From an economics standpoint, the toll has been a big success. Consider, for a minute, the perspective of a person who is willing to wait an hour in traffic, but is not willing to wait 15 minutes plus pay $9. In a world of rational actors, this person should not exist. But in the real world, this person in fact does exist in great numbers. Not only that, but their irrational choice is also clogging up traffic for everyone else, as well as increasing pollution. From a standpoint of utility, there is no question that this program increases the overall utility of the city's transportation system.
There's also the money aspect. This toll raises money for a city that is chronically short of it – despite having some of the highest per-capita taxation in the world. In an ideal world, the additional funds would be used to build out more transportation infrastructure. In reality, the new taxes will end up in the bottomless pit of graft that grips the city.
A few takes I've seen:
This will increase traffic outside the zone as much as it decreases it in the zone. Personally, I doubt this. Near me, when the 520 bridge was tolled, it reduced traffic on the bridge without increasing it too much elsewhere.
This is unfair because it prices out the working class people who drive into Manhattan.
This is unfair because it forces people to take the subways and the subways are full of murderous lunatics.
The city has substituted new taxes for actually, you know, building stuff. The fact that city planning geeks are celebrating this shows how small our ambitions have become. The biggest infrastructure projects now are just... more taxes?
One take I haven't seen but is relevant:
Will people cheat? Here in Seattle, people drive without license plates, have fake temporary ones, register in different states, and put covers over their plates which make them invisible to cameras. You cannot be pulled over for this, so it's basically an honor system. I assume NYC will be similar.
What do people think about these new taxes? Good or bad?
The only reason I am skeptical is because I am skeptical of giving the MTA any more money. I have no clue exactly why that organization is so incompetent. Is just generally government run incompetence? Is it unions shaking down the MTA making construction, maintenance and running the MTA prohibitively expensive? Is it that the state of New York runs the MTA rather than the city so incentives aren't aligned? Is it just expensive cause it is old and you need to shovel absurd amounts of money to modernize the whole thing? Maybe it's the 24/7 subways making it expensive. I've heard all this and more.
A lot of highly paid union staff and the huge maintenance costs involved with running an ancient system 24/7. The MTA is expensive but not so expensive that the cost is surprising or unusual.
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