3 Responses to “Congestion pricing - one person’s perspective” »»

1. Mike
   Comment by Mike | 12/01/06 at 11:41 am

   I’d

   have to agree w/Liam there. I don’t see what makes Boston’s streets “yours,” besides the fact

   that you live there. From a financial POV, the rest of MA is supporting Boston. In addition to

   everything Liam said, the residents of Boston’s outlying suburbs get back less than what they pay

   in state taxes (i.e. Hopkinton, a wealthy suburb in Metrowest, only gets back about 11% of what

   they pay in MA taxes). From that perspective, the residents of the burbs are actually helping to

   sustain Boston’s infrastructure. I realize this only applies to MA suburbanites, not NHers.

2. Charlie D.
   Comment by Charlie D. | 12/01/06 at 2:18 pm

   Liam is correct that his trips to

   Boston help business owners with his purchases and the city in terms of tax revenue. However,

   there are many more people who contribute those same things by coming into the city via public

   transportation, bicycling, or walking. Driving an automobile when these alternatives are available

   unnecessarily wastes physical space and pollutes the air (with both exhaust and noise). It lessens

   the livability and enjoyability of the urban environment in ways that the other modes of

   transportation do not.

   Cities cannot work if everyone uses a personal automobile to get

   there. Even if it was possible to build the infrastructure, the resulting environment would be

   extremely unpleasant for everyone.

3. Liam
   Comment by Liam | 12/04/06 at 10:40 am

   I don’t disagree with Charlie D’s suggestion that people use public transport more for their

   trips into town. The problem, though, is that public transport, particularly when you get out of

   the more urban core (Somerville, Cambridge, Boston, Chelsea, etc.), is spotty. I gladly take the T

   to work 99% of the time and driving into the city is almost exclusively a weekend endeavor. I

   think the cost of parking and threats of traffic keep plenty of people from driving into the

   city.

   I am not against the idea of making it costly to drive into the city (I objected to

   the implication that people who do so are taking advantage of Bostonians who are lucky to be able

   to walk most places), but I would like to see the money from congestion tolls go directly into a

   public transportation fund. In exchange for the $$, give the city a 24 T system on par with NYC’s

   with extensive lines and frequent trains (inclusing expresses). I’d never get in my car again.

Leave a Reply »»