Tolls on PA insterstate bridges (Philadelphia, King of Prussia: insurance, violent crime, public schools)

[RetireinPA]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Have you ever actually been to Philly, or do you just enjoy talking through your hat?

Much of that traffic is intra-regional, and they most definitely fuel up at stations in both city and suburbs. There are scores of gas stations in the city, and none of them look like they're about to go out of business anytime soon.

People driving back from New Jersey to Philadelphia will fuel up in NJ before crossing the bridges because gas in NJ is significantly cheaper, but the tolls tend to discourage city motorists from just hopping over the bridge, gassing up and then driving back over (don't forget the convenience factor, too; people tend to purchase gas when they're running low, no matter where they may be — driving too far to save a few cents may be impractical).

What annual budget deficit? The city's structural deficit ended under the Rendell administration after the state quasi-bailout and budgeting reform. Only unfunded pensions are a ticking time bomb now. City residents just got some unpleasant news in the form of a sharp jump in property taxes due to a citywide reassessment, but the budget isn't in deficit, nor are non-formulaic state funds going to cover the general city budget (as that Capital-Star item points out, Philly gets a good chunk of money from Harrisburg because it has more public school students than all its suburbs combined, it has more poor people than anyplace else in the state (raw numbers), and its transit authority serves five counties and carries 2/3 of the state's mass transit riders.

How's your local police department doing? Philadelphia pays for its by itself. The State Police here only patrol the freeways.

more times than you apparently lol. no one, and I mean no one, is jumping off the interstate grid around philly to fuel up. ESPECIALLY not travelers and commercial vehicles. we typically wait till we cross whitman and fuel in jersey.

[Tweb66]

Originally Posted by RetireinPA

more times than you apparently lol. no one, and I mean no one, is jumping off the interstate grid around philly to fuel up. ESPECIALLY not travelers and commercial vehicles. we typically wait till we cross whitman and fuel in jersey.

No one with a brain has ever avoided to fuel in PA so they can do so in NJ. This goes back the original question, you haven't actually ever been to Philly have you? I ask not just because you express laughable ignorance, but you pride yourself in thinking that Meadville is too liberal for you.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by RetireinPA

more times than you apparently lol. no one, and I mean no one, is jumping off the interstate grid around philly to fuel up. ESPECIALLY not travelers and commercial vehicles. we typically wait till we cross whitman and fuel in jersey.

I live in the city's Germantown section, so no, you haven't.

Remember I said that much of the traffic on Philly-area freeways is intraregional? Your vehicle wouldn't be included in that number.

Since you're just passing through, of course, you can fuel where you choose, as you're not likely to run low while in the area. Those who are not — and they account for the bulk of the traffic — will end up stopping at a gas station in the city or its suburbs most of the time; they will drive some distance out of their way to buy gas at a cheaper station, but they aren't going to drive out of the region to do so. And most of them on the Pennsylvania side aren't going to routinely cross over into New Jersey to buy cheaper gas there. That last may have changed somewhat with the recent runup in gas prices, though, since the savings on the total tab may now be large enough to offset the bridge tolls.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by RetireinPA

Hold on a second, isnt SEPTA (which carries all those riders) ALSO a giant sucking sound? (to be fair so are any other large city mass transit/rail system) but how much longer do we wait for their annual dole check to hit $1B?



btw - I saw you mentioned forest county. It has 7200 people in it and the unemployment rate is only 6.5% The only reason it is a negative is that it has appx 25-30% owner occupancy. They are no longer collecting per capita tax from wager earners for up to 75% of the dwellings.


But anyways, since the link you provided you didnt read fully, you didnt learn that the bar chart was a percentage. given the size of philly, Id have to pop out the calculator, but on a per capita basis, philly apparently takes the lions share of aid.


selling to jersey looks more and more attractive....

Apparently you didn't read the article fully.

The bar chart clearly states that the figures are percentages per capita — iow, what every individual living in the county gets from or gives to Harrisburg (figuratively speaking, of course). And the majority of the top 20 net recipients are mostly rural rather than mostly urban. (Lawrence, Indiana, Crawford, Armstrong, Fayette and Erie counties are all part of MSAs or µSAs, and I'm sure I missed a few others.)

So Forest County still gets the largest share of aid on a per capita basis. And most of the counties that are net recipients per capita are rural.

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by RetireinPA

lol seriously? that giant sucking sound being the annual budget deficit that covers JUST city services?


since this thread is gas tax related, philly has tremendous traffic, by fueled vehicles, which due to total lack of infrastructure, no one using the roads in and around philly FUEL in or around philly, hence fuel sales and taxes collected elsewhere, have to flow THERE.


we (Pennsylvanians) have wanted to spin 'west jersey' (aka philly) off to...jersey. But they wont take it.

Lol. Do you are angry at Jersey, too? Why? Too suburban? Roads too smooth? Too much job growth? Too much adequate street lighting? Incomes too high? People too educated? SEPA is like that, too. Must be why you hate us. But please, don’t let me keep you from wallowing in misguided, clueless misery, as your low-income towns and counties continue to shed jobs, population, and future.

[Wells5]

Originally Posted by BPP1999

Lol. Do you are angry aJersey, too? Why? Too suburban? Roads too smooth? Too much job growth? Too much adequate street lighting? Incomes too high? People too educated? SEPA is like that, too. Must be why you hate us. But please, don’t let me keep you from wallowing in misguided, clueless misery, as your low-income towns and counties continue to shed jobs, population, and future.

Having lived in Montco in the late 70s, I'll freely admit that I don't much like folks from the greater Philadelphia area. The above quote is a good example of why. Have you ever watched Jim Kramer on CNBC or Chrissy Mathews when he opined on MSNBC? They are prime examples of the superciliousness and meretriciousness of the Philly troglodytes.


Having also lived in Manhattan in the late 60s and the Poconos in the 90s (populated by NYC folks), I much prefer NYC people to those from Philly.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by Wells5

Having lived in Montco in the late 70s, I'll freely admit that I don't much like folks from the greater Philadelphia area. The above quote is a good example of why. Have you ever watched Jim Kramer on CNBC or Chrissy Mathews when he opined on MSNBC? They are prime examples of the superciliousness and meretriciousness of the Philly troglodytes.


Having also lived in Manhattan in the late 60s and the Poconos in the 90s (populated by NYC folks), I much prefer NYC people to those from Philly.

I wonder, though, whether New York City-area residents may not harbor similar attitudes towards Upstaters.

They probably don't express them as crassly, though. Frankly, I don't blame you for bristling at that sort of attitude.

However, that doesn't mean that the rural understanding of what drives Pennsylvania or feeds the state treasury is accurate.

Also: this hinterland resentment of the urban elites lording it over them fuels a lot of our current partisan rancor nationwide. The unfortunate part is that the hinterlands are not in good shape, and COVID hasn't changed that yet, though it does have the potential to, what with the advent of a workforce not tethered to an office.

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by Wells5

Having lived in Montco in the late 70s, I'll freely admit that I don't much like folks from the greater Philadelphia area. The above quote is a good example of why. Have you ever watched Jim Kramer on CNBC or Chrissy Mathews when he opined on MSNBC? They are prime examples of the superciliousness and meretriciousness of the Philly troglodytes.


Having also lived in Manhattan in the late 60s and the Poconos in the 90s (populated by NYC folks), I much prefer NYC people to those from Philly.

Uh huh, ok. So after all of the nasty, negative, non-true nonsense from RetireinPA, you find my post condescending? You are looking for sentiment from other people based on your pre-conceived notions.

Low-income, sparsely populated areas of PA are not funding the SE part of the state. Other links provided in this thread demonstrate that. We can agree to disagree on everything else.

[RetireinPA]

Originally Posted by Tweb66

No one with a brain has ever avoided to fuel in PA so they can do so in NJ.

yeah, ok chester...Im sure you are right


seriously tho, statements like you just made, points out a few obvious things:


1) biden voter duhhhhh
2) no real world experience, especially not in the north east and very especially not in PA (so why are you here? trolling?)

3) ignorance (willfull or not) of the world you live in. maybe you are just gaslighting us?



Does ALL of your information and 'facts' come from online blue anon?


you keep posting such liquid horse**** like that and we are justified in worrying you cannot fend for yourself and perhaps need intervention? In other words, if you are going to make stuff up, at least make it PARTIALLY believable.


Please note, your 'friend' on the subject, at the same time I posted, posted the same thing.

[RetireinPA]

Originally Posted by BPP1999

Uh huh, ok. So after all of the nasty, negative, non-true nonsense from RetireinPA, you find my post condescending? You are looking for sentiment from other people based on your pre-conceived notions.

Low-income, sparsely populated areas of PA are not funding the SE part of the state. Other links provided in this thread demonstrate that. We can agree to disagree on everything else.

bwahahahaha. another person who does not study anything publicized about philly...FROM PHILADELPHIANS.


You guys hate the place so much you hate yourselves. All you can do it talk about how much it sucks, until someone calls you on it.


Got news for ya chester2 - philly ranks in the top five of any 'worst' aspect - in the NATION. FACT. No discussion EVER of NYC, chicago or PG county MD ever finishes without philly.


Squirm out from under that.