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The MTA has the same liabilities if a disaster is caused by a human or a computer. How much is the Metro North crash going to end up costing them? How much is the Hoboken station drive through going to cost NJ transit? How much did it cost the MTA, when a motor man pushed a 4 train sideways through Union Square station? The question isn't if automating would ever ca use a catastrophe. The question is what's likely to cause more catastrophes, humans or computers?
AND IIRC, the court issue was a contract issue. At some point, the MTA is going to have to grow a pair, and stand up to the union.
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Originally Posted by NyWriterdude
People are going to have to deal with higher fares. The price of everything else always goes up. Housing, food, other forms of transportation, etc. Public transportation is no different.
Again the MTA has legal liabilities, and enormous ones if an automated system fails and if the technology doesn't work at planned. They know this, and they cannot get rid of human employees wholesale on the trains.
The courts would not let them get rid of conductors on the L train and reduce it from 2 employee to one employee, and the public concern of safety was part of the reason for the courts decision.
There was recently a horrible accident with a self driving car.
Imagine if some disaster happened on an automated MTA train, and partially because there was no human available to radio for help or talk to passengers, a panic ensued and some people DIED while others were hurt.
Think litigation, and big time. Think payouts to the tunes of tens of millions, if not hundred of millions. Lawyers would have a field day. The MTA knows how to protect itself.
The changes won't do anything to help you though as the PANYNJ runs those tunnels and bridges. The MTA tunnels and bridges are the Midtown, Triborough, Tappan Zee and the ones which connect the Bronx with Queens.
The Tappan Zee Bridge is owned by the Thruway Authority, not the MTA. And I think it already switched to cashless tolling.
The MTA Bridges and Tunnels are the Throgs Neck Bridge, Whitestone Bridge, RFK (formerly Triboro) Bridge, Midtown Tunnel, Hugh Carey (formerly Brooklyn-Battery) Tunnel, Verazano Bridge, Henry Hudson Bridge, Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge, and the Gil Hodges Marine Parkway Bridge. I believe the Henry Hudson Bridge has already switched to cashless tolling (not 100% sure since I've never had a reason to use that bridge).
I don't think going cashless will improve traffic until there's a national system. Too many out of state drivers come into the area with no Ez-pass.
They will take pictures of the license plates of cars with no EZ-Pass, and send a bill to the owner of the car.
I wonder what will happen with rental cars.
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For example in NJ, there are more toll plazas than all of NY. Many residents do not have EZpass. Many says they can't afford the fees which is $1/month and the replenishment cost. Others say that EZPass is a tax which I can agree that it has shoddy service that are error prone and you pay for their shoddiness with fines.
They will take pictures of the license plates of cars with no EZ-Pass, and send a bill to the owner of the car.
I wonder what will happen with rental cars.
NY does not charge any monthly fee for EZ-Pass.
Increasingly rental and share vehicles have some sort of EZ-Pass device already installed. You are informed prior to rental regarding charges and that the thing is activated automatically when you drive through a toll collecting system. IIRC all the car share schemes (Zipcar, Hertz on Demand (defunct), Enterprise, etc...) do this while many rental car places are following.
While billed as a convenience for renters/sharers and or to ensure rental/share vehicles do not run up unpaid tolls due to drivers not paying, as with most everything else to do with car rental the things are money makers.
Leaving aside the often outrageous charges for use (fees on top of the tolls paid), not all devices give the best/discount tolls. The few times used a toll pass from National I paid the standard non-discount rate for various MTA bridges/tunnels. Got an EZ-Pass after that and never looked back.
The MTA has the same liabilities if a disaster is caused by a human or a computer. How much is the Metro North crash going to end up costing them? How much is the Hoboken station drive through going to cost NJ transit? How much did it cost the MTA, when a motor man pushed a 4 train sideways through Union Square station? The question isn't if automating would ever ca use a catastrophe. The question is what's likely to cause more catastrophes, humans or computers?
AND IIRC, the court issue was a contract issue. At some point, the MTA is going to have to grow a pair, and stand up to the union.
They stood up to the union and LOST the COURT case. The unions have the same lawyers, so if the MTA tried to get rid of them they'd simply sue in court AGAIN and you'd have the same result.
And the question is not even which one is likely to cause more catastrophes. The question is how does one RESPOND when there are catastrophes? MTA employees as noted radio in emergencies and are able to give specific information and instruction that you simply cannot get from automated devices. Especially if one is going to be trapped in a train for hours.
Also the MTA is not a company. It's a NYS agency and it has to answer to the governor of NY, who doesn't really want to lay off massive amounts of MTA employees. It's probably part of the reason the MTA didn't appeal the aforementioned rulings.
By the time New York catches up to the standards of the rest of the civilized world when it comes to transit, it will have already fallen behind again.
Not even. There are a number of online businesses, and I don't think you can buy airplane tickets anymore in cash.
Legal Tender is in regards to public debt, not those held or created by private companies.
MTA can request all cars are linked to a credit card system, but when the bill comes in the mail- an option to pay in cash (or direct bank transfer) will be available.
i am surprised the whole toll thing has not been challenged in court .
it is basically an unfair tax to people who travel in one direction but not another . it isn't money for that bridge or road , it feeds everything from mass transit to whatever they like . it is just about generat tax money today .
that is a revenue tax not a use of road tax at this point . you can go east 120 miles and not pay an extra dime in to the tax revenue fund but if i go north 1 mile i get charged . that to me is an unfair tax .
i am surprised the whole toll thing has not been challenged in court .
it is basically an unfair tax to people who travel in one direction but not another . it isn't money for that bridge or road , it feeds everything from mass transit to whatever they like . it is just about generat tax money today .
that is a revenue tax not a use of road tax at this point . you can go east 120 miles and not pay an extra dime in to the tax revenue fund but if i go north 1 mile i get charged . that to me is an unfair tax .
The Payroll tax was challenged as an unfair tax- and the counties who sued won. Then it hit the court of appeals who basically said that even though their defense was sound and the tax should have been approved through a vote by all taxpayers of NYS, the entirety of the state needs this money or the system can't operate- and overturned it.
Ultimately the MTA has the right to unfairly tax whoever they want in all of New York State, and the right to be not held accountable for their own mismanagement of their budget.
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