NY blocks mayor's congestion plan

[Simon]

BBC reports:

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to ease transport gridlock in Manhattan with a congestion charge has been blocked by the state's assembly.

The scheme would have charged most drivers $8 to enter the city's centre between 0600 and 1800 on weekdays.

New York will now forfeit a $354m federal grant intended to kick-start the initiative, which aimed to persuade drivers to use public transport.

The assembly rejected the plan after days of closed-door negotiations.

"There was no support in the Assembly majority conference to bring the bill to the floor," said a spokesman for Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Anyone from USA or NY that has some more info about this?

[only_green_no_gray]

Once again the oil lobby wins :sceptical: :angry:

[mountainhiker]

BBC reports:

Anyone from USA or NY that has some more info about this?

Has NOTHING to do with the oil lobby! Has everything to do with the NY life style. You have lots of people that live in the surrounding areas that drive in for work, theater, shopping and dining. So, who are the big losers if they force people to not drive in for the social events, etc. ALL the theaters, stores and dining establishments. Who was against it, EVERYONE that has to drive in to work and all the stores, theaters and dining establishments.

[only_green_no_gray]

Has NOTHING to do with the oil lobby! Has everything to do with the NY life style. You have lots of people that live in the surrounding areas that drive in for work, theater, shopping and dining. So, who are the big losers if they force people to not drive in for the social events, etc. ALL the theaters, stores and dining establishments. Who was against it, EVERYONE that has to drive in to work and all the stores, theaters and dining establishments.

But the people wouldn't be so unhappy with that law if they had a good public transportation system, i guess.

[mountainhiker]

But the people wouldn't be so unhappy with that law if they had a good public transportation system, i guess.

IF they had a good public transportation system. There in lies a key piece of the puzzle... :thoughtful:

[Simon]

Ah, this reminds me about when Stockholm (capital of Sweden) introduced congestion charge.

The ones that complained were the ones that lived outside of Stockholm, right-wing politicians and car-fetish people.

Stockholm wanted the congestion charge because it would help improve the air, ie, their health. That was the biggest argument for it, not climate change as you might think.

The rightwing politicians didn't care about the people who was living inside of Stockholm and the municipality there (Stockholm is made out of different municipality that each governs their area, it's like different states, but smaller). So they allowed the municipalities around Stockholm to vote whet ever Stockholm had right to introduce their congestion charge!

See it like this, if your city wanted to build a new town centre they first had to ask permission from all the nearby cities. F*cked up, I know...

After endless votings and discussions the YES side won, and now we have a congestion charge in Stockholm.

Now other larger cities want to introduce congestion charge, because it works like magic, but they all face the same problems.

A little side note, the congestion charge in UK costs the cars almost two thirds as much as the Swedish cars have to pay.

[mountainhiker]

Ah, this reminds me about when Stockholm (capital of Sweden) introduced congestion charge.

The ones that complained were the ones that lived outside of Stockholm, right-wing politicians and car-fetish people.

Stockholm wanted the congestion charge because it would help improve the air, ie, their health. That was the biggest argument for it, not climate change as you might think.

The rightwing politicians didn't care about the people who was living inside of Stockholm and the municipality there (Stockholm is made out of different municipality that each governs their area, it's like different states, but smaller). So they allowed the municipalities around Stockholm to vote whet ever Stockholm had right to introduce their congestion charge!

See it like this, if your city wanted to build a new town centre they first had to ask permission from all the nearby cities. F*cked up, I know...

After endless votings and discussions the YES side won, and now we have a congestion charge in Stockholm.

Now other larger cities want to introduce congestion charge, because it works like magic, but they all face the same problems.

A little side note, the congestion charge in UK costs the cars almost two thirds as much as the Swedish cars have to pay.

Major difference, only cars pay a tax. In almost all cities in that area you have a LARGE number of people who ride motor scooters and bikes. In New York, almost no one is dumb enough to ride scooters and bikes to work due to the distance being FAR greater than that of the commute in Stockholm and New York is NOT setup to support non-car commuter traffic like Stockholm.

Most of the municipalities around NY are so dependent on NY that they would never do anything to like that, remember that most of the border towns are made up of people that work IN the city of NY....

[Simon]

Major difference, only cars pay a tax. In almost all cities in that area you have a LARGE number of people who ride motor scooters and bikes. In New York, almost no one is dumb enough to ride scooters and bikes to work due to the distance being FAR greater than that of the commute in Stockholm and New York is NOT setup to support non-car commuter traffic like Stockholm.

Most of the municipalities around NY are so dependent on NY that they would never do anything to like that, remember that most of the border towns are made up of people that work IN the city of NY....

Well, it's the same in Stockholm, most people live in the surrounding areas and go to work "inside" the city.

The only difference is that Stockholm might have a better public transportation system than NY.

But, from the BBC map the congestion charge doesnt seem to take up that much area..

Maybe officials and people alike in the US needs "cold showers" like these to understand that their car-fetish culture can't go on any longer?

[mountainhiker]

Well, it's the same in Stockholm, most people live in the surrounding areas and go to work "inside" the city.

The only difference is that Stockholm might have a better public transportation system than NY.

But, from the BBC map the congestion charge doesnt seem to take up that much area..

Maybe officials and people alike in the US needs "cold showers" like these to understand that their car-fetish culture can't go on any longer?

Sad but true, Atlanta, Ga. is having the same transportation issues. Many of these cities have a real problem with long range planning. A real problem is that many have seen it as a "core city" problem when almost all of the major cities have huge amounts of companies, etc that are now in a ring around the "core city".

So, you really have to be able to address transportation to the core and the "ring" around the city. As long as the "ring" is not part of the solution the issues will never be resolved..... :sceptical: