Letters to the Editor
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‘Hamptons Mulls Its Own Taxes on Congestion’
In the article “Hamptons Mulls Its Own Taxes On Congestion,” the executive director of the East Hampton Chamber of Commerce, Marina Van, said, “We already have buses, but people just don’t want to take them” [New York, “Hamptons Mulls Its Own Taxes on Congestion,”July24,2007].
It is more accurate to state that people simply cannot rely on the buses.
Bus service in the Hamptons does not operate when people want to travel. No local buses operate on Sundays. On other days the last buses generally finish up for the day by 7:00 p.m.
The buses operate too infrequently, generally between one and three hours apart.
At most times there are only five buses in service in the area east of the Shinnecock Canal. These 36-seat buses could theoretically carry at most 180 seated passengers, a mere fraction of the people inside the 33,000 vehicles that travel across the canal each day.
Imposing a fee will not reduce congestion unless local bus service is substantially increased or the fee is so high that visitors will avoid going to the Hamptons at all.
In the absence of either of these conditions, a congestion fee will do no more than provide an additional revenue source for local government to spend.
Lawrence Hughes
Flushing, N.Y.
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