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Any fee or toll structure is an inherently regressive taxation scheme, and grossly so. Thus yes, it does hit the poorer citizens far harder than the wealthier. Why do you think such schemes are such a darling alternative to progressive tax schemes in many right-wing circles?
Limiting our use of the infrastructure by making it too expensive for us to use the roads we paid for is to me an utterly immoral robbing of the commons. I don't live in NYC, so I guess this particular initiative is for NYC residents to decide on, but I think it is an incredibly short-sighted to reduce congestion by pricing-out those with less means from using their own city's infrastructure.
Here in Austin, we just opened a set of new toll roads, and I am thankfully not one who's commute lies along one. But it when I see them, I can't help but thing of them as manuments to the truth of Edward's 'Two Americas' comment.
The commons are to be just that: Common. That is we all should enjoy equal access to our commons. If the demand on them is so high that congestion is a problem, perhaps we could consider investment in expanding capacity instead of limiting what we have to those who already have more than the rest of us.
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