Poor people don't own cars, but subsidize the cars of those who do. Congestion pricing helps to fix that.

The book Deschooling Society has a good explanation about how the design of public roads is used as a means of social control. Ctrl-F for the section on mechanical donkeys. https://monoskop.org/images/1/17/Illich_Ivan_Deschooling_Soc...

How many poor people do you think are driving around Manhattan today?

There are many nice things that are off limits to the poor. I'm not sure if driving in manhattan should have a special exemption. Driving in manahatten is far from a necessity.

Not sure why that's a bad thing. Driving a private car in Manhattan is a luxury and should be priced accordingly. Transportation options should be available to everybody, but not every transportation option needs to be available to everybody.

Have you seen the price of parking in Manhattan? How many poor people do you imagine there are currently driving around Manhattan?

An unlimited MetroCard costs $121/month (or $61/month if you're >65 or disabled) and is good for all subway lines and buses. That's way, way, way less than the cost of owning a vehicle here -- parking in my building is $60 for 3 or more hours, for comparison's sake.

Driving in NYC is already off-limits to the poor and has been for awhile. Congestion pricing will be a net benefit to them because it will get a lot of car traffic off the road, thus reducing the chance of being struck by a vehicle (as a pedestrian), making buses much faster, and making biking more viable. Some of the poorest residents of NYC just use bikes, for example -- even the $121/month MetroCard is too much for them. Building out the bike lane network more would help them the most.

yes. when there is a competition for limited resources, the poorer you are the less likely you will have access to the resources. That's how it works.

No matter what you do you could never change this. You will simply create an alternative (and/or parallel) system with its own poors.

They passed low income metro cards last year for this reason. There is no great option here, there needs to be a new tax to raise money for new infrastructure and congestion pricing is the best of the worst options. It gives the city the flexibility to regulate future traffic flows and raises money for infrastructure. Raising taxes on the wealthy is a non-starter in NY state because they are not competitive as it is and the rich get up and leave.

That's not an unintended consequence. Why do you think poor people need to drive into Manhattan?

Will they turn to Lyft, Uber, or perhaps some sort of “sub-way”?