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Comment by myowncrapulence | Hacker News Reader

LA is 35 miles long. What would the walking commute of 10 million people look like?

So you're suggesting that instead of fixing the problem (public transit) they should start whipping people so that the rich can drive on their traffic-free roads?

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The point of tolls is not to make roads exclusive for the wealthy. A sensible toll would be something anyone who can afford to own a car can be expected pay.

  The point of tolls is not to make roads exclusive for the wealthy

But that's exactly what it accomplishes. Further pushing the poor into poverty punishing the commute to a minimum wage job in a part of town they can't afford.

Hmmm ... so you can afford the car, the gas and the insurance -- but you can't afford to pay for the road? Perhaps you should share a car.

Not to mention that the very same person will sometimes WANT to pay a toll for an uncongested lane. Running late for an interview? Maybe $15 is worth it to go 70mph for 20 miles at 8:30 AM.

The long tail very often has to "ride on fumes" until payday. Unless the tolls are literally cheaper than the fuel cost of idling in traffic, the result will be to punish those uppity poor for imagining they could afford a car (which they could previously afford, if just barely).

Some people don't have any room in their budget for anything! Any time you charge people $N for something that used to cost $0, the poor get hit the worst and the rich don't get affected at all.

I'm saying that the transit pressure should apply to the city and the people using transit, not the roads and environment.

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