Not every solution can or has to solve the wealth/income gap. Solve congestion with one solution, solve wealth redistribution with another.
It is a waste of time to bring it up every single time. We know being poor sucks, but that is its own issue with its own solution separate from solving too many vehicles in certain parts of Manhattan at certain times.
Increases distances between destinations, which means more energy and time to travel between them, which means higher cost.
> Or increasing capacity or lowering the price of public transit?
This would qualify as redistributing wealth.
Of course I don't expect such approaches to be a very popular approach in America, but there are ways to do it. All you need to do is let go of the idea that anything can be gained through purely monetary means.
Straight forward, simple, easy to implement and audit solutions are best for society.
Sure, let’s take wealth from richer people and give it to poorer people, but handle that via taxes, not via the road congestion pricing in certain parts of Manhattan.
Only non-poor people can say something as reactionary as that. Or people who are not friends or relatives with poor people. A populist backlash that will bring some of the middle-class egoism down is long over-due, and not only in the States.
There you go, point disproven.
And in all honesty, if you are driving in Manhattan, you should probably stop doing that.
If you're poor, you probably aren't getting your cancer cured anyway. And in all honesty, if you are getting chemotherapy, you probably should stop doing that.
See how none of this makes sense?
Congestion pricing is a compromise.
Someone from the Bronx or Harlem could drive there for work but both places have public transportation options that makes driving not make much sense and neither places require going through downtown in order to access south brooklyn.
I think we all know people find it, for one reason or another, more appropriate to take a car despite the already large cost of doing so in Manhattan. People aren’t just behaving completely illogically. If someone is driving, it’s not because they just didn’t even consider taking public transit.
And in the process, they are polluting the air, making busses run more slowly, and (on average across the population) killing pedestrians. On an individual level, this person may indeed have concluded that driving is better for them than taking public transit. For society at large, however, public transit is almost always the better choice.
By making driving in Manhattan more painful for individuals, we bring it in line with the real cost for society.
But even if we ignore this, by induced demand, open streets will simply invite more traffic. The difference is the wealth distribution of the present traffic.
Sorry, when I said "if you're poor, you probably aren't driving in Manhattan in the first place," I didn't mean to imply that zero low-income people drive private vehicles there. However, I do believe that the population of drivers in Manhattan is overwhelmingly higher income.
Separately, I believe that the vast majority of private vehicles should be banned in Manhattan anyway (which is what I meant by "if you are driving in Manhattan, you should probably stop doing that). If I was God Emperor of New York, I would close 4/5 streets in Manhattan to vehicles, and restrict the remaining streets to commercial trucks, busses, taxis, ambulances, and individuals who can park in handicapped parking spots. This would ensure that those who actually do need to drive can do so efficiently.
If congestion pricing gets us partway there, that's a huge win in my eyes.
> But even if we ignore this, by induced demand, open streets will simply invite more traffic.
Great, then NYC can raise the price. They should keep raising the price until the roads are clear. Then they should give that money to the MTA to improve public transit, and further tip the scales against driving.
Ironically I think everyone knows the answer which is that this isn’t about congestion. This is about lining pockets as much as possible.