Holy shit fare/toll increases for travel into NYC

[trinityvixen]

Tolls to go up for travel across the Hudson.

I am all for making driving a little more expensive to convert drivers into mass-transiters, but given the sorry state of mass transit--and the fact that mass transit would become more expensive, too--this is a shit plan. I don't know what to think about this but that milking commuters has never been

Comments

[ivy03]

Wasn't the reason the proposed toll on cars driving through downtown Manhattan was voted down because it would have caused an increase in mass transit users that would have taken something like a billion dollars of improvements to handle?

[trinityvixen]

I cannot speak to those particulars. All I know is that our mass transit system has been groaning under the pressure of supporting so many riders as is. They haven't even been able to relieve that pressure because of budget cuts where we've lost whole subway lines and also cut back on service. How the hell would the system absorb this new ridership?

Also, there are legitimate practical concerns for drivers as well that make driving, even with an increase, not all that affordable. People driving come from counties well outside the five boroughs, who would have to pay for parking, pay for a monthly MTA rail pass (LIRR, NJTransit, Metro North) and then pay for a monthly metrocard on top. That can run you $300 before the parking fees, so it actually saves money to carpool versus taking mass transit. If you want to increase the number of carpoolers, there are better ways.

[svilleficrecs]

Yeah, and add to that they're talking raising the Path to 2.75 from 1.75.

[trinityvixen]

I saw that--it was the price hike for commuters of which I spoke--which is just ridiculous. The PATH, while cheaper than the Metrocard, hasn't stood still, price-wise, while the subway got more expensive. It got expensive, too. To increase by more than 50% the cost is punitive, whether you take it ride-by-ride or as part of a monthly card. It's a contradictory stance to punish drivers with high fees and mass transit commuters with a price hike.

[xannoside]

That PATH fare bump is seriously nasty. Assuming 22 work days a month, $89 is more expensive per ride than paying for each ride individually now by over 25 cents (80 cents compared to the current monthly)

[trinityvixen]

Agreed. This was awful when the Metrocard monthly rates went up to $104/month, but that increase was only about $15. This is, what, $40? That's ridiculous and incredibly burdensome. I cannot believe anyone could countenance a price hike like this. Instead of raising taxes a little and a lot, each according to what he/she can afford, we're going to just take twice as much from hard-working people? What the F?

[xannoside]

This thing that's even sillier is that, okay, let's say the bridge toll thing is a congestion tax, trying to get people to stop driving their non-carpooled cars into the city, and take PATH/NJTrans instead.

Why increase the mass transit pricing? Doesn't that defeat the point?

[agrumer]

Fares for the PATH commuter rail service under the Hudson River would rise to $2.75 from $1.75 in September for individual rides.

Ouch. One of the things I liked about living in Jersey City a few years back was that the PATH fares were cheaper than the MTA subway fares, and occasionally I could use that fact to save money traveling within Manhattan.

[trinityvixen]

It may be going the way of the one-day fun pass on the subway. Enjoy it while you can.

[agrumer]

Well, I live in Brooklyn now.

[chuckro]

Short answer: Commuting costs are a non-discretionary good. The government is being really, really stupid about funds because the teabaggers won't let them raise a red cent in taxes. So they need to find the money to run services anywhere they can. PATH riders and tunnel-drivers can't escape the cost increase: What are they going to do, get new jobs? Hah! So the government can be sure of squeezing at least a little blood from this particular stone.

Also, I work with some inflation analysts who I want to hit with sticks right now, because inflation in energy, food, transportation and the like "don't really count" to them.

[edgehopper]

The teabaggers who run the NY and NJ state governments??

This is an attempt by NY to impose an unfair, unavoidable tax on NJ commuters, which is why Bloomberg proposed it and Christie slammed him for it.

And if you look at the article closer, you'll see that the Port Authority doesn't take tax revenues, and that the main need for this hike is to pay not for basic operations, but for the insane boondoggle of the WTC PATH station. So it really has nothing to do with any of the national or even state budget issues.