Comments on: With MTA taxes levied, complaints mount

By: On Election Day, musings about transit’s role :: Second Ave. Sagas | A New York City Subway Blog

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:02:22 +0000

[...] City. The state legislature begrudgingly approved a bailout for the MTA that is now proving to be rather unpopular with, well, everyone. The city eschewed an opportunity for $354 million from the federal government [...]

By: Marc Shepherd

Marc Shepherd — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:36:55 +0000

They are similar strategies, but they wouldn’t have affected the same people in necessarily the same ways.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:56:33 +0000

CP and bridge tolls are the same policy. The difference is that one was advocated by Bloomberg and the other was not.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:49:10 +0000

Sean, when was Ben not fighting for those things? The reason we ended up with the payroll tax was not because proponents of tolling didn’t fight enough, but rather exactly for the reason that Ben cites: a lack of political will.

By: Marc Shepherd

Marc Shepherd — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:51:37 +0000

Exactly: The payroll tax was the 3rd-best option, after the first two (CP and bridge tolls) failed to pass.

By: AK

AK — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:44:04 +0000

Exactly. She should represent the interests of her employees, which may not be aligned with the continued use of road/environment clogging transport, but rather with directing some of the funds raised from the taxi tax to go toward (in addition to public transit) job training for drivers. By analogy, tobacco-pickers are “hurt” by limits on smoking, but they are hurt more in the long run (as is the rest of society) by the perpetuation of detrimental behaviors (like smoking and driving in NYC).

By: SEAN

SEAN — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:40:03 +0000

Suck it up. If you don’t like what’s going on with the payroll tax, you should have been fighting for congestion pricing or at least bridge tolls. Not to repeat myself but, suck it up.

By: Benjamin Kabak

Benjamin Kabak — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:23:32 +0000

I've taken Desai to task in the past. While I appreciate that her job is to defend the TWA, her statements often make her sound like a fool. Heaven forbid people don't take a cab when they can just as easily walk or — gasp! — take the subway. Heaven forbid there are fewer cars on the road, cleaner air for us and a more livable city for all.

By: AK

AK — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:16:16 +0000

I know we assaulted taxi-lovers last week, but I cannot help but laugh at the following quote from the cited article:

“On shorter fares, riders will opt to walk or take the subway,” said Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, a drivers’ group that held a rally outside Pennsylvania Station on Sunday.

People walking? Taking public transit?? Surely this must be stopped!