NYC: Congestion Pricing Back?

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You can call it what you will, a toll on the East river bridges, a helping hand for the MTA, but what it really is congestion pricing. Not everybody will admit it but when you put a toll on every bridge into Manhattan what you are really doing is pricing people out of the market.

As it is only the rich go into Manhattan. You have to be rich. You need to pay for parking, pay for dinner and pay for a movie museum or play. That is a lot of money. The more rational middle class person will take a train into the city and forgo parking. Go to a museum that just suggests what you should donate and gives 2 cents. And grab something to eat from a street vendor. It’s not the perfect plan but it works.

 But in reality tolling all the bridges will give Manhattanites a feel of how Staten Islanders feel. We have all our bridges tolled an absurd amount and we can only get out of Staten Island by ferry and can’t even take our cars with us.

It is ridiculous. But maybe a taste of what we go through will make the people of Manhattan feel our pain and instead of making fun of us will join us in saying to the MTA enough with the toll and fare increase.

But tolling the east river bridges would be a step in the right directions because it would cut down on traffic. If you have to pay, you would not go into the city by car. You would find other means.  This would reduce the crazy traffic now in the city. Buses would be able to flow more easily in streets. Taxis could get people to their destinations quicker, and traffic accident s would go down. It is a win, win, for everybody, and we don’t have to call it congestion pricing. We can call it tolls on the East river bridges.

The MTA is very smart. They know that once they get control of the East river bridges they can continue to raise toll rates as high as they want and make a fortune that they can then use for other projects.

It is called a monopoly on services. What happened to capitalism? The idea that one organization should be in control of so many bus, subway, and bridge operations and they can do whatever they want is wrong. Anyone remember Robert Moses?

Somewhere along the way there should have been more than one agency dealing with these resources. In the past private companies operated the subway for a profit, explains the different size train cars, but were then given up to the city and eventually to the MTA.

It makes sense to have a government agency in control of these assets but it makes sense to have competition. Divide the resources and create another government agency that can take on the MTA. Then there won’t be a monopoly, the MTA will have competition and can’t just raise rates without a fall off of service, and this monopoly with absurd powers will no longer be able to call all the shots.