drainyoo

I don't drive to work every day. When I can avoid it I do. Not sure what is so laughable.

asf

you seem an intelligent, mature person. please think a little more and realize you don't have to drive into manhattan.

sashae

You drive because it's more convenient for you, and it's inexpensive. If congestion pricing were enacted, you'd stop driving.

Isn't that 100% the point of congestion pricing, that driving is TOO CHEAP?

johnprolly

How long have you lived here? My uncle who is relatively wealthy STILL rides the train from the NYU area to the Bronx every day and has for over 20 years. It IS the best in the country, hands down.

RIDING YOUR BIKE TO WORK IS THE BETTER OPTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

johnprolly

and before you say it, my GF and I have a car as well, which we use to go on road trips out of the city. I would NEVER think to drive it anywhere in the city. It's not worth it!

nayr497

A bicycle is the best, most exhilarating way to navigate a city. I grew up riding for fun and leisure but once I moved to a major NE U.S. city I became tired of waiting for buses and trains which led me to commute to work. (I'm impatient, the system was fine). Now six years later I ride a bicycle everywhere.

I have to agree with the NYC folks here that feel it is pretty crazy to drive into Manhattan. Sure, it might be nicer to drive, but that is the entire point of their argument, and why the U.S. has such an automobile and oil problem: it is convenient and easy to drive everywhere.

I've spent the past few years in DC and the problem is similar to what is being discussed here with NYC: the suburban folks can't be bothered to take trains or buses into the city and it is so easy and inexpensive to drive that they just jump in their car. The most aggressive and rudest drivers in DC are always people with MD or VA plates driving around like crazy. If I am going to get killed in my own city, I'd at least like it to be a city resident

Once you start biking you realize how easy and great it is to be using your legs, not your ankle/foot. You just have to change your mindset a bit...and see the light. My brother lived in NJ for awhile and worked in Manhattan and took a commuter bus in daily. Then he moved to Manhattan and walked to work. He had plenty of money to buy a car, but realized how silly it was to do so in/around Manhattan.

I'd LOVE to see all cities have the inner city center (say a 10 mile radius) be commuter car free...only buses and city vehicles. There is no reason why anyone should drive into the city center, aside from what most likely boils down to selfishness (of course there are some variables...you are pregnant and not up to/allowed to cycle). I've never lived in NYC, so don't know what it is like there exactly, but DC is also plagued by non-city dwellers driving in daily, taking advantage of all that the city has to offer, and fleeing at nightfall, taking their tax base with them and leaving the smog.

I have my fingers crossed (but am not holding my breath) that we'll see a gasoline allotment system implemented in the U.S. That would be great...I have my eye on a new bicycle and could use my non-gas consuming kickback I definitely have daydreams about the U.S. having an expansive, splendid public transportation system all over, not just in a few major cities. I can't wait for there to be fewer automobiles.

ZiP0082

agreed. sadly i don't get to cross any bridges anymore on my commute. south slope -> fort greene.

illadelphia esq

drainyoo- It is undoubtedly your right to drive anywhere you want but I think people are frustrated by the fact that it is your convenience argument for driving that motivates the implementation of a congestion pricing scheme. If it is hard to get to the subway, and the commute is too long by bike alone, perhaps you could ride your bike to the subway in good weather. Assuming you work during the day a decent u-lock with a cable or two u-locks should keep your bike from disappearing.

everyone else- I can understand the frustration at someone who by most measures should be able make a car-free commute but I’m not sure if an online forum is going to change his mind. The congestion pricing is well intended but, as I tried explaining before, is rather draconian for the American context. As represented in the microcosm of this thread, people tend to dig in and entrench themselves in a position when told what they must do or faced with an antithetical viewpoint. It is one thing to shake your head and point out the counter-intuitiveness of another’s position but it is unlikely you are going to change someone’s mind until a middle ground is found.

nycwtorres

So...???
Did anybody actually go see Sheldon Silver last night in Chinatown? How did it go?

nayr497

Whenever I read that name I keep on picturing a guy walking down the street handing out children's books with funny poems. Apparently Mr. Silver is not as cool as Mr. Silverstein...

asf

i agree with you about it being hard to change a person's mind on a forum, but drainyoo is a reasonable person and is more than half way there. i don't think people here are ganging up on him in a nasty way. it can be helpful to tell him his position can be rethought.

joetotale

I wish there were congestion pricing in Chicago, instead of taxing the hell out of everything else like they do in Cook County.

Also, I don't live in NYC, and I have no experience with the MTA, but I find the arguments in favor of driving in Manhattan less than compelling. And to say that there shouldn't be congestion pricing simply because driving is "convenient" and "more accessible" (yeah, right) is to totally miss the motivation behind it (that is, generate revenue that makes mass transit more convenient and accessible as well as reducing pollution, etc.).

skelly

Drive to the ferry?

sp00ki

nope-- no cupholders.

zoltani

It's funny to me when people who drive complain that the bus is too slow when they are the ones who are making it so congested that the bus can't get through.

pm124

There were some problems with the plan. But I believe that the idea was to increase train and bus service in underserved areas before pricing went into effect. I live in Chinatown, and the buses to Flushing or Brooklyn's 2 Chinatowns are fast, cheap and efficient. Express bus service works, and it's a lot faster than driving and parking. (By the way, for those of you who do not live here, parking is upwards of $150 per day unless you drive around endlessly to park on the street.)

pm124

Fact check: cabs account for less than a fraction of a percent for NYC, and less than 5% for Manhattan.

pm124

Again, objectively, the subway service has improved immensely with renewed funding since the 1990s. Check out straphangers.org. Weekends are a mess, but overall, data show huge improvements. There are more lines, the L train runs every 5 minutes rather than every 20, the BQD now run the full length of the line, and customer satisfaction is up. Another fact check is due!

Saintly Loser

Absolutely. I posted about this earlier in the thread. The number of medallion (yellow) cabs is fixed by law at around 11,500, and hasn't changed for decades. There are about 11,000 "black cars" (cars that mostly serve corporate accounts) in the city. There are car services, but they mostly operate in the four boroughs outside of Manhattan. If congestion has been increasing over time, it can't be blamed on cabs. There aren't any more yellow cabs in New York today than there were in 1968, and the number of black cars and car service cars operating in Manhattan isn't high enough to be a significant factor in congestion.

Catnap 

i really disagree with you. i grew up in NJ, taking the Jersey transit to Hoboken and then the PATH & subway to get around NYC. I did this commute (1.5 hours each way) for years, until I moved to Manhattan. in my entire life I've only driven a car in NYC once. i don't have "low standards" nor am I a newbie to the city.

there's nothing wrong with the subway or the bus system. you just want to be able to sit in your couch on wheels every day because it's a little faster and more comfy.

i've only found one other method of transportation around the NYC boroughs that's better than public transit - MY BIKE!

nycwtorres

I agree.. my grandmother is 92 years old she lived in Queens since emigrating from Europe in the 30's. She never ever had a drivers license and she worked in midtown her entire life. She thinks new york city is the best place in the entire world. And it is!

fix

1. New York has the most comprehensive transit system in the country. True, others are cleaner. True, others are faster. But no system has a denser grouping of stops that extends further from the city center than New York does.

2. I love it when drivers complain about traffic. I love it even more on days when an accident causes bumper-to-bumper traffic on my entire bike commute home. Without traffic it takes me 22 minutes. With traffic it takes me 24 minutes. In a car, traffic would add over an hour. I find it very hard to believe that driving in to midtown takes you less time than any other option.

gz_

lol@drainyoo. dick.