Drive and Pay in NYC


Not that I drive much in the city. I do have a car here, but I don’t often find myself
zooming around town in it to do errands because, well, finding parking here is like exploring for sunken
treasure…actually, it’s a lot less fun than that. But about as successful.

Well if I were to drive much in the city, then I might be disheartened by the whispers around town that drivers
might

soon have to pay
for the privilege of driving in certain parts of town. The city is looking at the idea of
imitating London, where drivers are charged for entering the most heavily trafficked parts of Manhattan at the busiest
times of the day. The idea is that you create financial incentives, compelling people to carpool or use mass transit.
How would it work? Seems kind of Orwellian to me. If you wanted to enter one of these areas, you’d have to buy special
traffic passes, either online or at street-level vending machines. Then, video cameras would capture pictures of
license plates of vehicles in the payment zones, and computers would match cars to accounts. If your car is seen and
you no pay. You bad, naughty person, get traffic ticket. So I have a question: What if you lend your car to someone
else and he drives in the pay zone?