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"TNCs had little impact on congestion in the western and southern San Francisco neighborhoods." Recently Supervisor Peskin apparently reached a deal to impose

"TNCs had little impact on congestion in the western and southern San Francisco neighborhoods." Recently Supervisor Peskin apparently reached a deal to impose a "net fares" tax on the TNC's. I wonder if they will consider differentiating it by neighborhood: imposing larger charges downtown. Peskin has also lobbied for downtown congestion pricing although that is harder to implement, politically and technologically, than such a tax.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
SllX 8y ago
> Peskin has also lobbied for downtown congestion pricing although that is harder to implement, politically and technologically, than such a tax. Politically, sure. The idea has been floating around for at least a decade that I know of, and probably longer. Technologically? License plate readers on every intersection, let's say, for the sake of argument, every intersection along Van Ness and South Van Ness going east, and every intersection along Folsom going Northwest. Maybe put the northern boundary at about Washington Street and also have readers at off-ramps. Maybe give people driving along the Embarcadero a free pass though and set the Eastern boundary there. Every car that enters this section of the City has their plate read, and you either pay with FasTrack or get a bill in the mail at the end of the month. If you live in this part of the City, you can apply for a waiver, oh and since we're reading plates and doing a DMV lookup for the address, the City could even charge extra if the vehicle is commuting in from outside the City. Actually, taking that into consideration, you wouldn't even need to apply for a waiver, any vehicle registered to an address within this zone simply wouldn't be charged. In fact, to make this more interesting, if someone calls a Lyft or Uber to an address within that zone, you could have them collect a surcharge which will be paid directly to the City. The technical challenge isn't very hard, actually kind of boring, I think the bureaucratic challenge is a bit harder once you get through the political challenge, which is the real hurdle. That is a potentially large source of revenue for the SFMTA though, between the tolls, the surcharges, and the additional monthly passes sold.
- slivym 8y ago
  It's worth noting that London has had a congestion zone for 15 years now and it wasn't particularly difficult technologically back then.
- lewis500 8y ago
  Congestion pricing is certainly do-able, and it would have the significant advantage of charging all vehicles rather than just TNC's. But it is technologically more complex to install readers everywhere than to tell TNC's to vary the tax they already pay. In other cities downtown congestion pricing has cost a couple hundred million to set up, and it takes some time.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

SllX 8y ago

> Peskin has also lobbied for downtown congestion pricing although that is harder to implement, politically and technologically, than such a tax. Politically, sure. The idea has been floating around for at least a decade that I know of, and probably longer. Technologically? License plate readers on every intersection, let's say, for the sake of argument, every intersection along Van Ness and South Van Ness going east, and every intersection along Folsom going Northwest. Maybe put the northern boundary at about Washington Street and also have readers at off-ramps. Maybe give people driving along the Embarcadero a free pass though and set the Eastern boundary there. Every car that enters this section of the City has their plate read, and you either pay with FasTrack or get a bill in the mail at the end of the month. If you live in this part of the City, you can apply for a waiver, oh and since we're reading plates and doing a DMV lookup for the address, the City could even charge extra if the vehicle is commuting in from outside the City. Actually, taking that into consideration, you wouldn't even need to apply for a waiver, any vehicle registered to an address within this zone simply wouldn't be charged. In fact, to make this more interesting, if someone calls a Lyft or Uber to an address within that zone, you could have them collect a surcharge which will be paid directly to the City. The technical challenge isn't very hard, actually kind of boring, I think the bureaucratic challenge is a bit harder once you get through the political challenge, which is the real hurdle. That is a potentially large source of revenue for the SFMTA though, between the tolls, the surcharges, and the additional monthly passes sold.

slivym 8y ago
It's worth noting that London has had a congestion zone for 15 years now and it wasn't particularly difficult technologically back then.
lewis500 8y ago
Congestion pricing is certainly do-able, and it would have the significant advantage of charging all vehicles rather than just TNC's. But it is technologically more complex to install readers everywhere than to tell TNC's to vary the tax they already pay. In other cities downtown congestion pricing has cost a couple hundred million to set up, and it takes some time.