this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2025
210 points (98.2% liked)

traingang

22842 readers
7 users here now

Post as many train pictures as possible.

All about urbanism and transportation, including freight transportation.

Home of train gang

:arm-L::train-shining::arm-R:

Talk about supply chain issues here!

List of cool books and videos about urbanism, transit, and other cool things

Titles must be informative. Please do not title your post "lmao" or use the tired "_____ challenge" format.

Archive links for reactionary sites, including the BBC.

LANDLORDS COWER IN FEAR OF MAOTRAIN

"that train pic is too powerful lmao" - u/Cadende

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Gulag for anyone doing this. Five years at least.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] FuckyWucky@hexbear.net 36 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I think the pigs will get their money either way, it's the only part of the City Government that is always overfunded.

Its unfortunate that Governments (and esp private sector) see tolls as a way to squeeze money out of people rather than as a way to manage demand.

[–] Hestia@hexbear.net 25 points 5 months ago (4 children)

At the end of the day, fares only hurt the working class

[–] blunder@hexbear.net 32 points 5 months ago

Car owners in NYC make twice as much as non car owners on average: https://www.hunterurban.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Car-Light-NYC-Infographics-May-2024.pdf

The tolls are slated for repairs and expansion of the NYC subway system, which 1) already exists and 2) is now looking at a budget shortfall of billions of dollars because the toll was reduced from $16 to $9.

Finally, driving through lower Manhattan is not a God-given right, and it has real economic impact on the city. Traffic violence, air pollution, sound pollution, economic suppression of areas choked with cars...

Go rent an apartment right at the mouth of the Lincoln Tunnel and then tell me that an economic penalty for driving a private car instead of taking abundant public transit is a bad thing. I don't mean this in a hostile way but it honestly sounds like you do not know what you are talking about

[–] Grandpa_garbagio@hexbear.net 30 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Eh people should be biking, walking, or taking public transit in big cities like this. All the cars create a lot of issues for working class non car commuters.

Like a good reason many people can even afford to live in a city is because you're trading off car ownership costs for higher rent. Which is mostly going to be the working class making those calculations.

Just straight up banning them from parts of the city would be better though

[–] Hestia@hexbear.net 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (7 children)

Imagine you're an independent plumber. You need a truck to transport your tools. Every time you pass through the toll booths in the city that's more money out of your pocket.

[–] egg1918@hexbear.net 29 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

They charge the client. Like literally any business expense.

Like they already do for the tolls they already pay

[–] Grandpa_garbagio@hexbear.net 3 points 5 months ago

lol yeah exactly.

[–] TechnoUnionTypeBeat@hexbear.net 24 points 5 months ago

Petit boug pro car apologia? In my Hexbear? It's more likely than you think

[–] combat_brandonism@hexbear.net 14 points 5 months ago (3 children)

an independent plumber isn't a prole

[–] edge@hexbear.net 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

A (truly) independent plumber is a worker that owns their own means of production. Literally the ideal.

Although it's more likely they're "independent" but working for some company using "independent contractors" as a way to avoid offering benefits and following labor laws.

Either way it's the worker that eats the fare, or has to pass it on to the customer.

[–] combat_brandonism@hexbear.net 4 points 5 months ago

Although it's more likely they're "independent" but working for some company using "independent contractors" as a way to avoid offering benefits and following labor laws.

That's called piece work, those are proles. Unusual in the trades afaik. In thoroughly unionized work like plumbing they'd be scabs. They should join their UA local 1 and get union jobs instead of scabbing.

A (truly) independent plumber is a worker that owns their own means of production. Literally the ideal.

They are an artisan, with different material interests than proles.

[–] Runcible@hexbear.net 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] CloutAtlas@hexbear.net 11 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I think in the west, independent contractors tend to be closer to petit bourgeoisie. Also depending on the industry, are used to cross picket lines during strikes and industrial action, like the freelance armorer that was in charge of the gun Baldwin used to kill that lady was there because the union film crew walked out due to unsafe working environments.

Fwiw I don't actually know if, say, NYC plumbers have a union and if/when there are independent plumbers, they would side with the workers. Although in my experience, small business owners tend to be tyrants just as often as big business owners.

[–] combat_brandonism@hexbear.net 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Goes back to Marx too. Artisans are not proles, and have different material interests even if they aren't petty boug. They are not alienated from their labor, even if they don't exploit proles themselves.

OP should've used rideshare drivers as her example. But piecework taxi driving is inextricable from the problem congestion pricing is trying to solve.

The only solution is to ban cars.

[–] Runcible@hexbear.net 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I think "independent plumber" was intended to mean "self-employed" in this case. I am not defending small business owners outside of the owner/operator type setup.

[–] Hestia@hexbear.net 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I did mean self-employed plumber. For example, a family plumbing business comprising of two brothers.

[–] Hestia@hexbear.net 4 points 5 months ago

I will not tolerate this Mario Mario slander

[–] Sauerkraut@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 5 months ago

So make an exception for the work vehicles of essential workers. Policies should be refined and improved upon overtime, not scrapped the moment any short coming is found

[–] krolden@lemmy.ml 7 points 5 months ago

That's a bit different than taking a drive throughh the park on a Sunday afternoon

[–] CloutAtlas@hexbear.net 6 points 5 months ago

Wait can you not write those off as a business expense in Amerikkka? Lmao what a shithole country.

[–] Grandpa_garbagio@hexbear.net 6 points 5 months ago

Yeah I mean my field has workers driving all around the megalopolis and we just charge the client for costs like that

[–] FuckyWucky@hexbear.net 21 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Yea, more workers should (and do) use public transport. It's New York, one of the few cities in the US where public transport is available, though it should be made free.

I wouldn't support such tolls in Houston because there is no other choice available.

[–] Sauerkraut@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 5 months ago

In most places and situations I would agree, but NYC is a special situation. Car dependency and automotive congestion hurts everyone, so it can onlg be justified when effective public transit options do not exist. However, NYC is the only city in the US where the majority of people do not commute by car. So the vast majority of car traffic is completely unnecessary, the drivers just don't want to share a train with poor people