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Comment by righthand | Hacker News Reader

Always the plumber who can afford every other toll but not the very low priced congestion pricing. No other occupation ever gets mentioned so we must think of the non-existent hundreds of thousands of plumbers who can’t afford it.

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My point is that the parent to whom I was responding didn't address the cases where one need a motor vehicle for their work. If it had been addressed as 'those cases will have to pay for the charge and adapt their prices', I wouldn't have mentioned it. Of course, as pointed in another (more useful) response to my comment, for those cases it might become cheaper since they might spend less time stuck in traffic.

My counter point is very few people have those requirements beyond plumbers. That’s why everyone always uses the plumbers as an example. And as you stated someone else's point is that since there are very few plumbers they would benefit. So my point is that those people aren’t a large enough group to matter in the decision of implementing congestion pricing because their negatives from it are nonexistent or over-exaggerated.

> very few people have those requirements beyond plumbers.

I'd say everyone who's working in the various home improvements/renovations, so carpenters, tillers, HVAC/boilers installers and maintainers, roofers, painters, kitchen designers, those who install plancher or carpets...

and taking into account a minority that will have no choice but to interact with the new regulation (unlike service or white collar worker for whom it would be easier to take public transportation) seems like a good idea, no?

They were taken into account and the result is that the negative effects to them were negligible to the gains. They ultimately don’t matter in the end game. Sorry! But not sorry!

The MTA did a 10 year long study. It wasn’t something that appeared out of the blue.

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