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State to charge some residents more for driving around their city
By adamg on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 8:44am
Jimbo discusses how the governor's transportation bill contains a provision that would increase the tolls paid by some East Boston, North End, Charlestown and South Boston residents for the harbor tunnels from 40 cents to "$.50 above the one-way full rapid transit fare" charged by the MBTA. So those residents would see their daily commuting costs rise 525%.
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Comments
And this is a problem?
And this is a problem? Why?
Tunnels do cost money to maintain and it only makes sense that the people who pay for them are the very people that use them. Coupled with meaningful reform, improvements to infrastructure and public transit this seems very fair to me.
This is further justified because there is an alternative to paying to use the tunnels: the T.
Driving a car is a privilege not a right.
Why do East Boston residents
Why do East Boston residents need a toll break any more than Roslindale or Roxbury residents? They have a "need" to drive downtown about as much as other Bostonians have a "need" to drive to Suffolk Downs or Terminal B. Every Bostonian should get the toll break, or none of them should.
But we shouldn't be balancing the budget with $7 tolls. Raise the money we need for transportation with the fairest tax of them all, the gas tax.
Fair Fares
It makes sense to charge at least the cost of the T. Why do only some neighborhoods of Boston get this discount? Why do people in south Boston get a discount to go to eat/visit friends in East Boston but not Dorchester, Roxbury or JP? They too are not going to Boston but staying within. What should happen is to lower the tolls on the tunnels but make up the difference if you are going to the airport. That way restauants in e boston arent double penalized for being near the airport (besides the pollution and noise).
Also, as Providence is soon to get direct train access to the terminals, when will we in Boston have a train that doesn't require a shuttle bus (silver or otherwise) to get to the actual airport?
I realize that some people
I realize that some people think it is unfair that impacted communities get a "discount" on tolls for the transporation infrastructure that runs right through their communities, but its only fair. Chelsea is cut in half by the Tobin Bridge, and the traffic brings noise, pollution, blight, and in some cases physical damage to property (when the Yacht Club was hit by falling debris, and when trucks lose control on the off ramps.) The other impacted communities have similar stories as well.
In the case of Chelsea attaching the price of tolls to the cost of taking the MBTA may seem logical, but once again it misses the big picture. Chelsea is within 4 miles of Downtown Boston and yet it takes over in hour to get to many parts of Boston depending on where you are in the city due to a lack of rapid transit option in the city limits. The buses are over crowded and all go to the same two or three locations (Haymarket, Wellington, Revere) and the commuter rail is sorely lacking as well. Once again Im sure their are similar arguments for the other impacted communities, Im just not familiar with them enough to make their case for them.
When they built the Tobin Bridge the promise was for free tolls for local residents, and no tolls for the general public after the bridge was complete. Originally only a sticker was required, then they started charging residents for the tolls, then they required you get a special transponder in order to get the discount. All these other changes were bending the promise, the new scheme breaks it.
Chelsea residents deserve a discount
I lived on Beacon Street within a block of the Tobin. It's basically the only viable way to get many places and it's not a luxury if you are a resident there. Your other options out of town are 1) Revere Beach Parkway [crowded and not direct to many places] 2) Bridges to East Boston [nothing there and often are up] and 3) taking local roads. The Tobin bridge dominates the landscape in the Chelsea waterfront area and the residents deserve a discount as a result.