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bobthepanda

The high tolls are going to subsidize the trains.

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So are train tickets going down in price or more seats being added?

More bag searches obviously.

They’ll be six workers standing around not doing anything while one works, up from five.

Nothing goes down in price. Ticket prices will remain the same, but salaries will increase because of inflation, so yes, they will become more affordable. At least that's the theory.

Capital projects on the subway:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/25/nyregion/mta-congestion-p...

> "So are train tickets going down in price or more seats being added?"

You can answer this question by looking at the existing service.

Are the trains crowded, unreliable, and/or running over capacity? In that case it would be better to spend the extra money on upgrading the service. Or is the service good but not enough people are using it? In that case it may be better to use the money to reduce ticket prices.

Whatever gets more people to ride the trains is going to be the best solution.

It's actually "neither of the above": the congestion funding is simply going to replace federal funding (mostly Covid relief stuff) that is due to roll off.

The article links to another article[0] (way down in the final paragraph) about how some transit upgrades were put on hold because they were 50% funded by the congestion pricing:

> The MTA said money from congestion pricing makes up more than 50% of funding for the agency’s capital program

Presumably, those specific things can now get back underway:

> Projects that rely on the funding include modern signaling on the A train to Far Rockaway, more ADA-accessible stations and phase two of the Second Avenue subway.

[0] https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/transit/2024/02/16/mta-halt...

I mean, sure, that's obviously the way the MTA wants you to look at this; and indeed the congestion pricing funds are restricted to be used on the capital budget.

But that's meaningless; since capital funding from the congestion pricing lockbox will just displace debt issuance, so it's effectively just taking pressure off the operating budget, which is where the current federal funding is going.

Nah. Those tolls go to new york. The people being taxed are predominantly from NJ. Our gov just raised the gas tax to help fund the transit system here, and he’s also suing NY over these tolls. Feel however you want about this, it’s a complicated issue because of our patchworks of states vs federal control.

If the people paying the tolls work everyday in New York, then I think it would be reasonable to consider them to effectively be New Yorkers as much as they are New Jersiers (New Jersites?).

Like you say though, it's complicated. Especially when you have New York and Jersey City that in a lot of ways are almost one city that happens to be in two states.

Income tax is often divided into where you live AND where you work (ie unemployment is typically work-state dependent).

However the where you live part is over-emphasized IMHO.

I mean this also hits anyone coming from an outer borough. It’s hardly only a tax on NJ residents

Subsidize which trains? Not the ones from NJ (NJTransit). These tolls will only be used for MTA (NY).

I’m for congestion pricing but NJ trains and buses are not going to benefit from this.

NJTransit will benefit by increased ridership

I will benefit personally as a NJTransit bus rider by, I hope, having a shorter bus ride (more time to do work and see family) since I sit in 1-2 hours of commuter car induced traffic several days a week

As an NJ resident, I very much look forward to this congestion pricing and wish it were $50 instead of $15...

For obvious reasons, the vast majority of public transport systems long for increased patronage above all else.

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