My opinion on the mayor's congestion pricing plan

The mayor has introduced a plan to charge 8 dollars for motor vehicles entering Manhattan below 86th street, and 25 dollars for commercial vehicles, Taxis will be exempt.

Surprisingly I think it's a great idea. The traffic during the hours which cars would be charged gets horrible, absolutely horrible. Some New Yorkers seem totally oblivious to the world around them with their Hummers, Escalades, and okay fine, my taxi really sucks too.

The conservative argument put up by some politicians in the outer boroughs, is that this is another way to tax the poor.

Question:

If you are poor WHY ARE YOU DRIVING TO WORK?

Costs of driving to Manhattan are already:

Parking: around 15 to 30 dollars (parking spaces are free, but to obtain them, one must do a lot of praying, once the spot is obtained, cars are often dented and scratched)
Tolls: between nothing and 9 dollars

Or you could take Mass transit, it's alot cheaper and more reliable. Click here for a nice pie chart (13 billion dollars) and note facts below the nice pie.

By the way, soon taxis will be more green and economical. The city already has a few Toyota Prius', some hybrid camrys, hybrid Highlanders, a bunch of hybrid Ford Escapes, one Lexus RX 400h (the h is for hybrid), and possibly a Honda Civic hybrid too, the electric Pt Cruiser is bogus, I never saw it. All medalions currently and in the future are only offered for greener cars or handicapped access vehicles. I heard that a hybrid Ford Escape eats less than half the gas of a Ford Crown Vic. in a day, and I heard a Civic hybrid or a Prius eats a quarter of what the Crown Vic. drinks.