Comments on: How to fund the MTA

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:36:27 +0000

Pareene laments “suburban New Yorkers.” I’m not sure if the reader understands, though, that many outerborugh drivers–Queens, Staten Island, Brooklyn–use cars to commute to Manhattan. Just to clarify, those aligned against the tolls are not just non-NYC residents.

By: Damian Hockney

Damian Hockney — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:26:56 +0000

Unfortunately ‘congestion charges’ for cars (which of course are taxes) do not reduce congestion. They have not done so in London, where I was a Member of the London Assembly (the body which is supposed to hold the Mayor to account but has no powers). But these charges do damage businesses in the charging area. In addition, there is no evidence of so-called ‘congestion charging’ helping to keep the costs of public transport down – just look at the eye popping inflation busting increases being rammed through every year in London. Long after the C-Charge was introduced. Oh, and of course the C-charge has doubled in price in four years – when all the politicians promised it would not be increased.

By: Chuck Metalitz

Chuck Metalitz — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:33:58 +0000

New York could provide adequate transit funding by taxing that portion of land value which would disappear if transit service were eliminated. Transit would simply be collecting a portion of the value it creates. If transit doesn’t create enough land value to cover its costs, then people don’t value it enough to be worth subsidizing and there is no excuse to fund it.

By: ajw

ajw — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:56:12 +0000

I would be very interested to know how much of these rising costs are for pension expenses, which also rise with inflation. Roger Lowenstein’s “While America Aged” uses the history of the MTA and its pension fund as a case study of short-term thinking by city management intent on avoiding wage increases by making outrageous promises that future administrations (and, of course, citizens) will get stuck with “someday” long after the people who made the promises are out of office. That someday would appear to be today. Or maybe 2011.

By: Mike in NYC

Mike in NYC — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:37:45 +0000

Increasing NYC’s population density, even if it bumps up tax revenue, is going to lower its quality of life below the questionable level it’s at right now.