←back to thread

In New York City, congestion pricing leads to marked drop in pollution

(e360.yale.edu)
472 points Brajeshwar | 3 comments | 10 Dec 25 15:25 UTC | HN request time: 0.873s | source
Show context
JumpCrisscross ◴[10 Dec 25 16:53 UTC] No.46220095[source]▶
I'm curious how congestion pricing became a national issue. The strength of conviction people have about this policy–almost either way, but certainly among those against–seems to scale with distance from the city.

Nobody in Idaho gets uppity about New Jersey's tolls. But they have strong, knowledge-free, almost identity-defining opinions about congestion charges.

Is it because it's a policy that's worked in Europe and Asia and is thus seen as foreign? Or because it's New York doing it, so it's branded as a tax, versus market-rate access or whatever we'd be calling it if this were done in Miami?

replies(14): >>46220138 #>>46220140 #>>46220243 #>>46220335 #>>46220405 #>>46220410 #>>46220420 #>>46220553 #>>46220668 #>>46220978 #>>46221390 #>>46221973 #>>46223663 #>>46229483 #
taeric ◴[10 Dec 25 17:02 UTC] No.46220243[source]▶
Feels like this is the curse of modern US politics. I'm convinced the majority of people that "want high speed rail in CA" don't live in CA. Further away they live, the stronger they will argue for why we should have it.
replies(2): >>46220433 #>>46220582 #
bluGill ◴[10 Dec 25 17:16 UTC] No.46220433[source]▶
Just to defend myself (similar to what I said in a different thread): I live in an area that would be marginal for high speed rail, but I still want it. If the US can get a great high speed rail network it would make sense to bring that to me, but as one of the last lines built! If CA can't build a good HSR where it should obviously work out there is no way it is worth trying here. They have to make the mistakes and then learn from them (this is the harder part!) in order to bring something to me where there can be no mistakes.
replies(1): >>46221703 #
taeric ◴[10 Dec 25 18:44 UTC] No.46221703[source]▶
Don't get me wrong. I used transit for the majority of my career. Biked for as much of it. Love the ideas.

The VAST majority of people I would see have conversations about this seem to want others to take transit so that traffic is better for them in their car.

replies(1): >>46222580 #
bluGill ◴[10 Dec 25 19:40 UTC] No.46222580[source]▶
The vast majority of people I know have never lived where there was a transit system that would be useful for them. So of course they want other people to use it without planning on using it themselves. Give them a system that is worth using and they will use it (there will be a multi-year delay before they try/start using it though).
replies(1): >>46222676 #
taeric ◴[10 Dec 25 19:46 UTC] No.46222676[source]▶
I've lived in Atlanta and Seattle. Both have perfectly workable transit. Even if Atlanta does seem to have gotten a bit worse over the years.
replies(2): >>46222943 #>>46229537 #
1. bluGill ◴[10 Dec 25 20:03 UTC] No.46222943[source]▶
Workable is not a great endorsement. If things are not fast and frequent people will prefer to drive even if transit could work. Also both have workable transit only for some destinations - I don't live in either city, but I'd guess without looking getting downtown is easy but if your destination is one suburb over it is technically possible but you could baby crawl faster.
replies(2): >>46223199 #>>46224209 #
2. cogman10 ◴[10 Dec 25 20:21 UTC] No.46223199[source]▶
Yup, it's something I think people need to experience.

I lived in the UK for 2 years without a car and it ultimately did not negatively impact me (other than needing to memorize local bus routes). I lived in towns as small as 10000 people (Newtown, Wales) and they had both a connected rail system and a couple of bus routes serving the town and connecting it to other towns.

Buses absolutely can work in even quiet rural locations, they just need to be properly funded and prioritized. They also need to be subsidized. The American notion that public transit needs to either run net zero or turn a profit is backwards and fundamentally stopping it from working well.

3. taeric ◴[10 Dec 25 21:35 UTC] No.46224209[source]▶
I mean, yes. But I hate to point out that even in Tokyo, having a car is faster than not. Just a lot more expensive.