Editor,
Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesperson John Goodwin states “we know that pricing freeways is unpopular.” It’s way more than that; it’s criminal. The level of taxation is what makes San Mateo County unaffordable in the first place (“Highway toll feedback signals an uphill battle” in the Nov. 15 edition of the Daily Journal).
You can’t encourage the masses to use mass transit by charging us. We need to be where we need to be at certain times, on certain days, and under various shifting circumstances. Public transportation does not deliver. It is not a convenient option for everyday life, and most of us aren’t willing to make sacrifices when it comes to convenience, even if it costs us. Everyone needs free access to the roads — to get to work, to shop, to drive kids to school, etc. Our public transportation structure couldn’t possibly support a proposed increase of use.
The feedback from the public webinar hearings indicated that there simply are no factors that would incentivize the use of public transport. Maybe the Transportation Committee should put more focus on improving that rather than penalizing taxpayers for using what we already pay for.
Politicians continue to pursue any issue other than the source of it. Less people would solve so, so much. How about putting an end to the broken cycle of associating population growth with “progress.”
An agreement by all of us who use the freeways to ignore any bills in the mail for using them is something I could support.
Mike Hagmaier
San Mateo
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(1) comment
Well written, Mr. Hagmaier, but I think we know that taxes and fees are only to support increasing pensions and benefits, as evidenced by the fact that no attempts at cost reductions are ever on the table. I wouldn’t be surprised if transportation workers decide to again go on strike for more money, at no benefit to the masses. I agree we should ignore any pleas for more transportation money until they do their fair, and fare, share.
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