Quote:
Originally Posted by chris08876
Should Uber and Lyft riders pay a fee for clogging Manhattan’s busiest streets?
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Chicago has experienced a similar increase in traffic from Uber/Lyft. There are a couple fees now tacked onto ride-share trips, although I don't think Chicago is considering any congestion pricing in the Central Area. The idea gets mentioned now and then, but I think it'd be relatively complicated to implement and while traffic is much worse than it was ten years ago it still isn't quite bad enough to make everyone favor congestion pricing yet.
I think rush-hour tolls on the expressways might be worth considering, though. It would be somewhat ironic, seeing as the first Mayor Daley went out of his way to ensure there are no toll roads in Chicago (except for the Skyway headed to Indiana). It can take 90 minutes to get to/from O'Hare to the Loop - a distance of 16 miles - at rush hour now. Which is good for Blue Line ridership (it's consistently 45 minutes from O'Hare to the Loop via the Blue Line subway), but not much else. A few years ago, some study found that Chicago was the only city in the country where transit between all (both) of its airports and the Central Business District could beat travel by car and traffic has only gotten worse since then. Hence continued pushes for express rail service between O'Hare and the Loop.
I kinda think Uber/Lyft should have substantial taxes, given the number of external costs they impose on the city. Tacking on the equivalent of a bus ticket per passenger for all trips originating or ending in the Central Area would be a pretty good goal, making sure that at least on trips involving the Central Area ride-share will never be less than using mass transit. Some of those additional trips are made exactly because they can be less than or not much more than taking transit. Ending that price advantage would almost certainly reduce the number of trips into the Central Area by car and help raise additional revenue for transit. New York should do that, too.