the asthma and lung diseases costs woudl be staggering and it politically sells much better than these numbers

we need your help in developping those rapidly

I’d like to see the cost per taxpayer of all that congestion.

I don’t even know HOW to drive so I’m at a loss, but Imagining that people drive 10-15 Miles to work(I think this is very conservative but lets talk NYC). That’s at least a gallon of gas per direction at $3.00 that’s about $6.00 per day just in fuel costs. Assuming an annual insurance cost of $2000(I got this from a money magazine article) that’s about $5.50 per day. So that’s $11.50 per day without factoring parking or general auto maintenance. IF you find a super cheap lot and pay around $300 per month in parking that’s another .82 cents per day. Bringing the total above $12.00 for a short commute with parking. I can barely afford to pay $4 per day for my metrocard(less cause it’s a 30 day card). Those poor bastards can’t afford to pay another dime.

Let’s assume 5 million commuters since I don’t have that number in front of me, that would mean that 230,000 (4.6% of the total) NYC residents

Let’s say NYC residents are half of the cause of congestion and suburbanites are the other half – $6.5 billion a piece.

That means 230,000 are costing the rest of the city $28,260 a year in extra economic costs. If you assume 260 wroking days a year, then the more appropriate cost would be something more like $110/day. $8 seems like a bargain.

If someone has better assumptions to plug into the little model I created, please let me know.

The appropriate economic calculation should figure out the marginal costs and benefits to society of allowing auto commuters. The marginal costs of a few hundred thousand extra motorists seems fairly high and the marginal benefit seems to only accumulate to their own private comfort and convenience, not the rest of the public.

There might be an phenomenon similar to working people who advocate tax cuts for the rich: one day they’ll take advantage of that unfairness!