Boston To Begin Charging Admission
The Boston Globe - A city councilor is looking to turn Boston into a commuter toll zone so that people who drive into the city would have to pay to enter.
Saying the half-million commuters who drive into Boston each day are major contributors to traffic and parking congestion, Councilor Paul J. Scapicchio wants the city to look into requiring passes costing $1 to $5 daily and catching scofflaws by installing cameras to record license plates of cars crossing over from the suburbs without the passes. Today, he will ask for a council hearing to explore the idea.
Modeling his proposal on a similar program in London and an effort under consideration in San Francisco, Scapicchio said the fees would help fund public transit and road improvements in a city that has struggled in recent years.
''This program could remedy three problems: congestion, pollution, and the lack of revenue," said Scapicchio. ''This could discourage the use of our overburdened roadways and create a revenue source to fix our falling bridges and pothole-filled streets."
So not only would they charge an admission fee for commuters but they're also going to create some new bureaucracy to monitor the public use of Boston's roads.
And as for the problems this will supposedly solve? I have no doubt that it will solve the congestion and pollution problems as workers and businesses move to a place that doesn't charge them an admission fee, but an exodus of citizens and businesses isn't going to do much for the revenue problems.
One wonders if the idea of cutting spending to alleviate revenue problems has occurred to these politicians?
