Congestion Pricing Plan: The Toll Is Our True Destiny
THE ISSUE: The mounting resistance against congestion pricing amid plans for a mid-June rollout.
The Post is right (“Wrong Turn,” Steve Cuozzo, PostOpinion, Mar. 3).
It was former Mayor Michael Bloomberg who decided that we needed fewer drivers. He jacked up fines, installed redlight and speeding cameras and created miles of bus-only and bike lanes.
He only caused more congestion and chaos, leading to the implementation of his idea: congestion pricing. Thanks to him, our local government has discovered more ways to extract money from the people it serves.
Those who came after him have pushed the agenda further.
Gary Mottola, Brooklyn
I recall that when the New York Lottery was first introduced it was billed as a boon for education, and that the revenue would be used to enhance our schools. It never was.
However, teachers — already in short supply — spend their own money on school supplies and school lunches are still inedible abominations.
And now we have a new government boondoggle being shoved down our throats: congestion pricing. We are being told over and over about how these dollars will be spent on making our transit system safer, cleaner and better for all. I don’t think that this idea will work the way it was intended.
Revenue will be spent lining bureaucratic pockets, and once again the public will get screwed. MTA chief Janno Lieber should go away and take his lies and his arrogance with him. Alan Brooks
Brooklyn
It looks like congestion pricing south of Midtown Manhattan will become a reality. The benefits of this plan are added revenue for MTA maintenance and capital-improvement projects. Manhattan will also have better air quality.
Congestion pricing, however, is a regressive tax on the working classes. There are also costs associated with maintaining the tolls, alongside business complaints that shipments will cost more.
The drivers that elect to leave their vehicles behind will use mass transit, where they’ll notice many passengers jumping the turnstile. Kosmas Patikoglou
Malverne
Congestion pricing will be a killer of city businesses and those who need to get around for their livelihood. It must be stopped.
Not once has the MTA produced any evidence that it has been able to stop the false-overtime abuses that have been going on for years. Let’s first see a solution to that problem. Only then can we believe that there is no other way to get funds.
Congestion pricing cannot go through — New Yorkers are tired of giving to those who are not capable of using our money wisely. Bunny Abraham
Manhattan
New York is trying to imitate London’s congestion-pricing policy.
But the city could have done a lot of things to prevent congestion pricing. It could have opened side streets to traffic, done away with bike lanes and CitiBike street parking, or cracked down on double-parking. Yet the city did none of those things.
It did none because our leaders want to install congestion pricing to cover the MTA’s revenue shortfall — which is due to mismanagement.
Now that it is going into effect, the city should be aware of some possible unexpected results. For example, city unions might lobby New York for significant pay raises for all their employees to cover the cost of their congestion tolls plus increased taxes, increasing New York’s deficit.
Then there is the possibility of people refusing to come to work or finding jobs outside of the city. Peter Ogrinz
Manhattan
Congestion pricing is being used to fund the MTA so that subway and bus service can be improved.
But there is a significant contradiction here: If the congestion tax is successful in reducing cars, then vehicles won’t enter this area in large numbers. If so, the tolls might not bring in the $1.5 billion that are anticipated to fund the MTA. Then what?
Tom Kesolits
Holmdel, NJ