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Congestion fees are a very capitalist way of solving it. This law basically exists for everyone except rich people (i,e. Those who can afford to pay fees).
All this is based on a false assumption that money has an objective value. But in reality, 1$ means different things for different classes.
In NYC in particular though, I have a feeling that very few low income people drive into Manhatten instead of taking transit.
According to Wikipedia "Low-income residents receive a 50 percent discount on daytime tolls after their first ten trips into the congestion zone in a calendar month". So to some extent the system does take your concern into account.
Well it pretends to but no system like that will equalise it.
Do the same as we do with fines, based on income.
So that the congestion charge for a billionaire is also actually significant. Enough for then to reconsider using a car.
Billionaires using cars aren't the ones causing congestion though, there just aren't enough of them
No, but it's tied to your income, so it doesn't matter what you make. Poor people should have it practically for free (but still for a small nominal fee) as they're often completely broke. Someone making an average salary should pay an average sum, a wealthy person should pay more and an ultrawealthy person should pay even more.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/06/finnish-businessman-hit-with-121000-speeding-fine
That's one of the world's largest speeding fines, and that guy isn't actually even that rich. Like he's barely in double digit millions. That's honestly not that rich on a global scale.
I tried looking for someone with "just" ten times the estimated net worth, so someone worth 100 million. But top 25 richest hollywood actors and #25 is still 170 million. When the fines grow progressively, then those people would pay something like 4-5 million in a fine, probably.
Like when you get a fine of any sorts, unless it's for a very basic infraction, it's going to be day fines. So if you commit an infraction that you don't go to prison for or get probation, you'll have day fines. A day fine is equal to roughly your daily income. You can get 1-120 dayfines for an infraction and if you're getting multiple infractions at the same time it's at most 240 day fines.
The point here is that it would actually be good tax income and it would remove the effect of any regulations being cheaper to break for rich people, which is inherently very unjust.
Yes but the money goes 100% to public transit so it benefits the lower income public transport commuters too.
Directly to which parts of public transport specifically? Are cops a part of that?
Since when cops are public transport?
Since... I dunno but it seems all transit systems have dedicated cops in the US.
Ah, you're new! Hello! Ga ga goo goo! Goo Goo ga ga!
There are transit cops, cops who are on the payroll of a transit system. There are also politicians who lie about where money goes, so they say "we're investing 100% in MTA to make the system safer for you and your family" and they mean they are giving money to NYPD with some requirement they have 1 more cop at a transit terminal. As another fine example, check out states where lottery funds go to "public schools".
I am new with the us system. I dont live there you see. I believe we separate cops and public transport in my country.
I don't understand the need to belittle anyone that lacks information or is ignorant. Were you born with all the information you have right now?
What's that xkcd?
No, in fact I quite literally in my message acknowledged they were new and didn't have that information. Like, the thing you're asking is actually in my message. Sure, there's also some belittling for flavor, but life is boring if you don't insult people on the internet.
Sounds like you just lead a boring life if you rely on insulting strangers on the Internet for some spice.
I mean, you are right and the fee should be proportional to wealth, but it is not gonna affect the poor people because they use the public transit. Maybe anywhere else in the US may be true that "even the homeless need/have a car" but NYC would be the exception.