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London has the Underground. Goes everywhere. New York has the subway. Goes everywhere. Both cities have good rail systems feeding in from the suburbs. D.C. has, ummm, Metro. There are good rail links to the city from, well, parts of Virginia and Maryland. If the congestion charge is only applied on cars going to places served by Metro, then it might be workable.
-- wiredog
A congestion tax isn't going to significantly reduce traffic and pollution because it won't be much of a deterrent to drive into D.C. Most people, myself included, who commute downtown to work or visit clients will be reimbursed by employers. As long as D.C. has building height restrictions, it will never have the density to justify making Metro the kind of system that actually could mitigate the need for additional road capacity.
-- CEEAF
I don't think the biggest congestion problems are actually in the city. I think they're mostly on the Beltway and surrounding [roads]. One of the things that would most help congestion downtown would be to reopen Pennsylvania Avenue and other areas that have been closed for bogus security reasons.
-- Mel
Some of us cannot afford to live in the city. I didn't choose to live 70 miles away in VA because I prefer it. I live there because I got priced out of neighborhoods here. Until the region can come up with some way to fix the disparity between where I can afford to live and where I can earn a living wage, a lot of us are going to have to commute to feed ourselves.
-- KTB
Just an opinion from one of the evil leeching suburbanites: I am an Arlington resident who worked near McPherson Square for six years. At lunch time, I would frequent any of the dozens of nice lunch spots. Other times, I might enjoy a Capitals or Wizards game because I was already downtown. I must have missed that law that funnels sales and use taxes I paid back to Virginia.
-- Paul, Arlington
Saying that a meals tax is the same as [a] commuter tax is ridiculous. When I (a D.C. resident) eat out in Arlington, I pay meals tax there too. When I eat out in D.C., I pay the same meals tax as you. I also pay MUCH higher income taxes. Please don't complain about the extra quarter you paid in tax on your Cosi sandwich.
-- CBGB
