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A comment on The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally Makes That Plain. Parent comment

Re:The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally M... by paulgb on Thursday April 04, 2019 @03:13PM (#19576021)
We could have all the money in the world for infrastructure and not fix the congestion problem. There's a hard limit to how many cars can physically fit on the roads at a time, and the number of people who want to use the road at rush hour exceeds that limit.

Given the cost of driving in NYC, using congestion pricing to pay for transit would almost certainly be a move that increases, not reduces, equality.

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Re:The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally M... by e1ven on Thursday April 04, 2019 @04:16PM (#19576641)
I'm all for reducing the traffic, but I think having the streets be only for the wealthy is among the worst ways to solve that problem.

In a way it's analogous to any other resource allocation problem. There are lots of approaches other than "richest wins"

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Re:The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally M... by CalRobert on Thursday April 04, 2019 @05:29PM (#19577309)
"but I think having the streets be only for the wealthy"

but that's basically what they are now, in as much as they are catering for the most expensive form of transport (aircraft and tanks notwithstanding).

Having the streets for everyone means having them be for walking, cycling, scooters, bikes, buses, etc. Hell, donkeys while we're at it.

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Re:The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally M... by e1ven on Friday April 05, 2019 @06:15PM (#19587531)
Yes, but why should the debate be framed in terms of only looking at fees or living with congestion? There are other approaches to what is essentially distributing limited resources.
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Re:The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally M... by CalRobert on Saturday April 06, 2019 @05:57AM (#19590057)
well, there's pricing, or rationing, or some combination (e.g. Pricing, with exceptions for those where we want to accept the externalities as a society for a greater good, like not charging ambulances). Which do you prefer?
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Re:The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally M... by paulgb on Thursday April 04, 2019 @05:19PM (#19577227)
The congestion in NYC makes it dangerous to bike and slows down busses. Allowing cars to own the roads is precisely a "richest wins" approach, at least in Manhattan.
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