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Changes since congestion pricing started in New York

(www.nytimes.com)
437 points Vinnl | 3 comments | 13 May 25 10:43 UTC | HN request time: 0.857s | source
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mcswell ◴[15 May 25 01:48 UTC] No.43991069[source]▶
There was a time when there were no automobiles in New York City, but there was lots of public transportation. (Ok, there were horses and the consequent manure, and the population was way smaller then. But still...)
replies(3): >>43991846 #>>43992044 #>>43995030 #
tzs ◴[15 May 25 05:12 UTC] No.43992044[source]▶
Horses caused worse problems than manure. The NYC pedestrian death rate from horse accidents in 1900 was higher than the pedestrian death rate from car accidents in 2003. See this comment [1] for references.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42329211

replies(1): >>43992085 #
1. atoav ◴[15 May 25 05:21 UTC] No.43992085[source]▶
Yeah but back then streets were for people and horses. There were no clear markings separating the sections, there were no laws making it illegal for you to walk on the streets.

If there were traffic laws, nobody knew them and people wouldn't know which way to go to avoid a head on collision.

If you'd just replace cars with horses today it would go a lot different.

replies(1): >>43997974 #
2. Aloisius ◴[15 May 25 18:40 UTC] No.43997974[source]▶
Uh. Sidewalks existed and pedestrians mostly stayed on them for their own safety. Jaywalking wasn't made illegal until the 1950s, well into the car era.

And it wasn't just horses. It was horse-drawn carriages. There wasn't that much difference, traffic wise, between carriages and cars. There were traffic jams, out of control vehicles, drunk drivers, street racers, collisions, etc. all back in the 19th century.

replies(1): >>44012940 #
3. atoav ◴[17 May 25 08:39 UTC] No.44012940[source]▶
Yeah? This is what I meant: https://image.geo.de/30155632/t/17/v5/w1440/r0/-/new-york-19...