Congestion pricing will destroy broadway - Page 5

[MezzoDiva47]

Posted: 1/9/25 at 3:55pm

TellZ said: "MezzoDiva47 said: "
congestion pricing $$ seems to be aimed squarely at fixing the terrible MTA service but what about the equally terrible NJ Transit

"

Yeah I wonder who is in charge of fixing NEW JERSEY Transit

"

since congestion pricing affects a large proportion of commuters and tourists and patrons who travel from new jersey into the new congestion zone the topic does seem appropriate to bring up

 

 

[MezzoDiva47]

Posted: 1/9/25 at 3:58pm

MemorableUserName said: "The most interesting thing about your post is what you consider worthy of capitalizing and what you don't. Your name? Yes. NJ Transit and MTA? Yes. Everything else? No. (Poor Duane Reade.)

Anyone I would bow to has to be familiar with punctuation."

 

i tend to capitalize initialisms and acronyms

and I capitalize my username because i am worthy

 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 1/9/25 at 4:12pm

MemorableUserName said: Anyone I would bow to has to be familiar with punctuation."

Yup, anyone who starts a post with "i" and doesn't understand what a period is gets instantly dismissed in my mind and I never read their posts again. It's just lazy and embarrassing, yet they think it's edgy and cool. Nah. And anyone who commands posters of BWW to "bow down" will just get torn apart by other people anyways. 

(Poor Duane Reade)

HAHAHAHAHA. You win BWW today. 

 

Updated On: 1/9/25 at 04:12 PM

[raddersons]

Posted: 1/9/25 at 4:57pm

[hyangsoo]

Posted: 1/10/25 at 10:58am

I myself am reducing the shows I see this year and also take my family to. Last year I saw a show every week or every other week on average, and many of them I brought my family. This year - I will probably only see half or less of what I saw in 2024. I do have to drive in and it's not worth the extra time and inconvenience to come in and go home in mass transit in the middle of the night. So I'm going to be very selective of what I see. And I'm reducing my spending on shows and in NYC starting this year. I don't think I'm the only one.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 1/10/25 at 3:14pm

hyangsoo said: "I do have to drive in and it's not worth the extra time and inconvenience to come in and go home in mass transit in the middle of the night."

No one is preventing you from driving in if you think it is too inconvenient to use mass transit. You will just pay a small fee for the inconvenience you cause others, and to offset improvements in mass transit for those you have inconvenienced. Simple.

[gibsons2]

Posted: 1/10/25 at 3:59pm

hyangsoo said: "I myself am reducing the shows I see this year and also take my family to. Last year I saw a show every week or every other week on average, and many of them I brought my family. This year - I will probably only see half or less of what I saw in 2024. I do have to drive in and it's not worth the extra time and inconvenience to come in and go home in mass transit in the middle of the night. So I'm going to be very selective of what I see. And I'm reducing my spending on shows and in NYC starting this year. I don't think I'm the only one."

Everyone is reducing their entertainment budget given how unpredictable job market is and will continue to be, soo... thanks for sharing, I guess. If you want to avoid using mass transit in the middle of the night, then there are Saturday and Sunday matinees for out of town audience members such as yourself. If you choose to still drive in, then pay the toll, it's only fair.

Updated On: 1/10/25 at 03:59 PM

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 1/10/25 at 5:12pm

hyangsoo said: "I myself am reducing the shows I see this year and also take my family to. Last year I saw a show every week or every other week on average, and many of them I brought my family. This year - I will probably only see half or less of what I saw in 2024. I do have to drive in and it's not worth the extra time and inconvenience to come in and go home in mass transit in the middle of the night. So I'm going to be very selective of what I see. And I'm reducing my spending on shows and in NYC starting this year. I don't think I'm the only one."

🎻…tried to make it smaller but what can you do?

 

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 1/10/25 at 9:33pm

I'm sorry what happens when you buy toothpaste at a midtown Duane Reade?

[ijest22]

Posted: 1/10/25 at 10:51pm

verywellthensigh said: "I'm sorry what happens when you buy toothpaste at a midtown Duane Reade?"

It’s a trick question. You can’t buy toothpaste in a Duane Reade, or CVS for that matter, because it’s locked up to prevent theft (and good luck finding someone to unlock the case for you).

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 1/10/25 at 10:55pm

ijest22 said: "verywellthensigh said: "I'm sorry what happens when you buy toothpaste at a midtown Duane Reade?"

It’s a trick question. You can’t buy toothpaste in a Duane Reade, or CVS for that matter, because it’s locked up to prevent theft (and good luck finding someone to unlock the case for you)."

But you can buy it. I buy my toothpaste at Duane Reade. Either it’s locked up or it’s costs 2x more to cover the cost of theft. Is it really that big an issue?

[hyangsoo]

Posted: 1/11/25 at 10:14am

HogansHero said: "hyangsoo said: "I do have to drive in and it's not worth the extra time and inconvenience to come in and go home in mass transit in the middle of the night."

No one is preventing you from driving in if you think it is too inconvenientto use mass transit. You will just pay a small fee for the inconvenience you cause others, and to offset improvements in mass transit for those you have inconvenienced. Simple."

It's not a small fee when you are already paying $16 tolls and $50 parking. Add congestion pricing then that's $75 before you even get to the theater. Regardless I am reducing my spending on shows this year and being more selective of what I will pay to see and I'm not the only one.

 

[hyangsoo]

Posted: 1/11/25 at 10:16am

Yes, it is a big issue. People literally walk in off the streets and take stuff and walk out and no one does anything about it.

[Kad]

Posted: 1/11/25 at 11:42am

hyangsoo said: "
It's not a small fee when you are already paying $16 tolls and $50 parking. Add congestion pricing then that's $75 before you even get to the theater. Regardless I am reducing my spending on shows this year and being more selective of what I will pay to see and I'm not the only one."

If you're driving into the city every day, then, yes, the $9 quickly adds up- 5 days a week for a month is an additional $180. Not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things. but also not nothing and for many people not negligible as a new monthly expense.

But if you're an occasional driver into the city- once or twice a week or less monthly- then the cost is pretty small. Let's put it another way: if a luxury item at a store was marked down from $75 to $66, it likely wouldn't be seen as much of a savings.

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 1/11/25 at 11:52am

hyangsoo said: "Yes, it is a big issue. People literally walk in off the streets and take stuff and walk out and no one does anything about it."

That’s why it’s locked up?

I meant is getting an associate to unlock it for you that big an issue. 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 1/11/25 at 12:21pm

TheQuibbler said: "hyangsoo said: "Yes, it is a big issue. People literally walk in off the streets and take stuff and walk out and no one does anything about it."

That’s why it’s locked up?

I meant is getting an associate to unlock it for you that big an issue."

It often can take a fair amount of time when stores have limited staffing and they are already busy or hard to find. 

Is this the worst problem in the world?  Obviously not, but these stores have long been about quick convenience and that no longer is a reliable value proposition.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 1/11/25 at 12:32pm

Tis the problem of attempting to automate the entire experience of going to a store. You introduce self check out to eliminate employees and suddenly you have a much bigger problem of theft. Many stores eliminating their self checkouts and still don't hire more staff so it becomes a cyclical problem of their own making. Products locked up because of their initial egregious cost cutting and people getting fed up waiting for someone to unlock the case because you're still understaffing the store and it creates an unwelcoming experience. 

A problem of entirely their own making... self check out should be an option, not what they're pushing you to do by reducing the number of cashiers resulting in long ass lines.

And now everything is locked up by default even in a brand new store so it's a self fulfilling prophecy because you think theft will be a problem.

Updated On: 1/11/25 at 12:32 PM

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 1/11/25 at 3:40pm

It's not a small fee when you are already paying $16 tolls and $50 parking. Add congestion pricing then that's $75 before you even get to the theater. 

Yeah, NYC is expensive and if I get to see more ambulances actually able to get through traffic from my office window on Madison as I did this past week, I will continue to think this is a brilliant idea. Stop complaining and take public transit if you don't want to pay since that is the point of this entire thing anyways. Theater is a luxury item, let's all remember that.

[JasonC3]

Posted: 1/11/25 at 4:35pm

Sutton Ross said: "Yeah, NYC is expensive and if I get to see more ambulances actually able to get through traffic from my office window on Madison as I did this past week, I will continue to think this is a brilliant idea. Stop complaining and take public transit if you don't want to pay since that is the point of this entire thing anyways. Theater is a luxury item, let's all remember that."

Whatever one feels about congestion pricing, theater (in the broadest sense of the word) and other forms of culture are not by definition, luxury items.  They are a vital part of life and have been for centuries.

"lux·u·ry /ˈləkSH(ə)rē,ˈləɡZH(ə)rē/

noun: luxury

the state of great comfort and extravagant living."

Updated On: 1/11/25 at 04:35 PM

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 1/11/25 at 4:40pm

Everyone knows Broadway is a luxury item, a want, not a need. And that poster was only talking about driving into Manhattan to see shows specifically so I obviously wasn't talking about anything else but you knew that since you just edited your post while I was writing this :)

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 1/11/25 at 4:47pm

• The average annual household income of the Broadway theatregoer was $271,277 

• Respondents reported having paid an average of $161.20 per ticket.

https://www.broadwayleague.com/research/research-reports/

So, regardless of your delusional thinking, a luxury item. 

[RUkiddingme]

Posted: 1/11/25 at 5:02pm

Feels like someone is gonna rename a theater Duane Reade the way this thread is going.

[trentsketch]

Posted: 1/11/25 at 6:51pm

Ah, the Duane Reade Theater. Right down the block from the historic McDonalds Time Square, a beloved venue for freezing non-equity actors. 

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 1/11/25 at 7:03pm

It’s a nice venue, but all the Playbills are locked up behind a case and it takes forever to find an usher to open it up. 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 1/11/25 at 7:31pm

Theatre is not a luxury but Broadway is. Like having a warm scarf today is not a luxury but having a less-warm Hermès one is.

I probably average 3-4 purchases a week at CVS. I don't have a problem getting someone to open the cases for me. I don't know why the people here who have one problem always seem to have all of them. 

As I understand it, the congestion toll from NJ is $6 net, not $9. 

The concept is already working brilliantly. MTA has already purchased a few dozen electric buses with the proceeds of the first few days. So either buy MTA upgrades, or take mass transit and buy everyone fewer respiratory illnesses and cancers, fewer traffic fatalities, and a quieter more pleasant existence. (And that's not just in Manhattan but even in NJ!)