Why should car drivers subsidize the MTA? NO CONGESTION TAX! And get rid of the new MTA surcharge when registering a car! The whole reason I own a car is so that I DON'T have to use mass transit. So why should I pay for it? Train riders don't pay for my car maintenance, do they?

Raise the MTA rate to WHATEVER YOU NEED to the system to make a profit. I don't care if that is $10 a ride. Fine. Do it.

If the MTA can't hack it, let em go bankrupt, and let a private company take over. They can make cuts in the budget where they need to, fix the books, and stop the curruption. If they do all this, I'm sure they won't have to raise rates all that much anyway.

Of course train riders pay for your car rides. They pay for highway/road maintenance and construction. They pay for higher asthma rates that can be partially tied to vehicles' emissions. They pay for the auto accidents' cleanup. They pay for the traffic lights and traffic cop salaries. They pay by opting to ride at all, and showing you what a truly intolerable daily commute is like. They pay for EMS responding to injuries caused by traffic. On the way to and from the train, they also pay with pedestrian injuries and fatalities. They all pay in lots of ways that many people choose to ignore because they don't want to think through the whole situation and come up with a solution. Many people love to look for ways to be a victim so you can be belligerent about it and deflect even indirect responsibility.

Everyone pays.

We have a city. A big city, where lots of people want to, or have to, live. These fellow city-dwellers need to make a living, or are training to make a living. Most of them cannot work within walking distance of where they live. Roads and cars do NOT scale. CANNOT scale. What do we do?

Besides throwing up your arms and blaming the MTA for money mismanagement and calling it a day, I mean. (Or bitch about not wanting to pay for anything, ever.)

I have no probelm with EVERYONES taxes paying for the MTA, or of highway/road maintenance, police, traffic lights and signs, etc... Everyone uses these services. This is what tax dollars are for, to keep society running smoothly.

What I DO have a problem with is one group being taxed MORE then others, for a service they don't use. Like I said, the whole point of me having a car is so I DON'T have to use mass transit daily. So why do I have to pay extra for it?

Holy s--t, they are going to hike the payroll tax even more now. I swear, it is like buying an extra 2 monthly-metrocards a year already.

When discussing the congestion tax, I hear everyone talking about people who commute to work. I argue that most (anyone have numbers?) of the vehicular traffic in Manhattan is people using their vehicle to DO work. Why should these people who do not have a mass transit option, pay the penalty for doing business in Manhattan?

$2.60 is a joke.

Unless lawmakers can come up with new ways to fund the MTA

Is it really so hard to understand, Albany? TRAFFIC CONGESTION TAX!!!

Commuting time today: 1 hour 45 minutes.

Distance: 5.5 miles.

35 minutes waiting for a G train which never comes (find out G trains aren't running when I finally go up an ask station agent)

20 minutes waiting for B62 or B43 or G-train Shuttle (two buses are too full to take all G-train exiles, no Shuttle arrives)

Times I swiped my (thankfully monthly unlimited) Metrocard: 3

Signs, announcements or other helpful information from MTA staff, including 2 phone calls made to MTA line: 0

One time my boyfriend and I tried calling the MTA to find out service for the B48 bus, cause we were trying to go to the Brooklyn Museum. That bus NEVER runs when it's suppose to...of course they didn't pick up when we tried calling. Ugh between the G train and the buses out there. It's a head ache.

Single rides should be $5, the Fun Pass should be $20.

$100 is a lot of money for a service that doesn't even work. If i was getting my moneys worth then yes. And i wish it was as easy as "Just pay the extra money...or take a cab." Cabs are just as expensive (and even just as non-reliable) esp when you live in an outter borough and have a crappy train line like the G train to rely on. Something needs to be done. There has to be a better way....

The monthly subway is used mainly by the lower and middle classes to get to work every day. It puts a burden on folks who are simply trying to get to their jobs. Charge whatever for a single ride, but the monthly should be reasonably bargain-priced considering why most folks buy a monthly.

Seriously -- why the fuck are they talking about raising the single ride pricing by $0.10 (or 4%), while jacking up the monthly passes by 15%?

Single ride is now $2.25, right? An increase to $2.60 is an $.35 increase, correct?

Well, you can see how often I buy the single rides, given that I thought it was $2.50 already.

Yeah,I can see that. I use an unlimited, but I'm not sure how much it costs. I pick it up from HR when the email goes out for transit check arrivals.

Just pay the extra money already. Or take cabs.

not everyone who drives into manhattan is doing so because they are "too good" for public transportation. there are parts of the five boroughs without reliable or fast ways to get into the city, especially if you need to travel at odd (non-rush hour) times.

commuter tax!

If you're commuting outside of rush hour(s) it should be no problem to find parking near the terminus(sp?)/start of most major train lines. Otherwise, pay for driving into and around the most congested parts of Manhattan.

Exactly! Drive to the stop, then take transportation in. I used to do that when I lived in Westchester and believe me Westchester has a hell of a lot more dead spots then here in NYC (there is a bus within a 15min walk in almost every area in NYC except Queens...which is really lousy, sorry guys, that need improvement!)