People who own a car in NYC have to be rich. There are too many fiscal disincentives not to already.

When I owned a car, I was spending about an average of $500/month on transportation costs, including gas, tolls, fees and maintenance, and this takes into account my efforts to bike to work whenever I could because I was so broke. Now, without a car I, spend under $100.

Maybe you could argue that it's a middle class issue in Dallas, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Detroit or other cities without great mass transit options and more sprawling development patterns. (The outer boroughs have areas that aren’t well served by transit, but they’re a far cry from Dallas et al.)

And this argument only works if there is a true lack of viable transportation alternatives, which becomes more debatable as cities look to light rail, bus rapid transit and commuter biking (take Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Houston, for example). I was surprised at the number of bike commuters in cold Minneapolis in the winter.

I think this "debate" is just people dragging their heels at the prospect of change, especially those who currently benefit from transportation policies that favor cars, such as free curbside parking and toll-free roads.

I have to admit that I felt guilty when I owned a car in New York. I knew that I was getting more than I was paying for, considering the premium space I got for curbside parking, the wear and tear I caused on the roads, the pollution that was coming out of my old car’s exhaust pipe, and the long distances I drove to work and back.

When I couldn’t quit my job, I got a share with a coworker for a few days a week and biked to work whenever I could. Then I quit my job and worked somewhere accessible by transit. There’s always a way, and likely the alternative is cheaper.

Adding a $100 tax, on top of the current use tax, for people who may never even drive their cars into the City, seems a bit unreasonable.

The beauty of congestion pricing is that for those who work in the Manhattan core, there are numerous transit options available no matter where you are in the city - even if you are located far from a subway stop, there's always the express buses and Metro North. The revenue stream would beef up the existing modes to add the necessary capacity for the new transit riders and could potentially fund improvements. I could go on, but the moral of the story is that if you work in one of Manhattan's CBDs, you don't need a car and don't even really have any business using one to get to work. Those of us who work elsewhere have to make do the best we can.

It's the only way to really make a marked difference in the amount of driving people do in neighborhoods like mine, which are outside of the congestion zone, but also have great transit options.

We should charge for parking as well...

We need to solve motor congestion,and also some cars may not use gas in the future.

My head exploded.