Will New York’s drivers pay a toll? Fuhgedaboudit

Plus: Reddit's blackout, Brazil's economy and more. Bloomberg This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a toll-free tour of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - NYC’s [congestion fee]( needs a rebrand. - [Reddit’s blackout]( is a death-spiral. - [Brazil’s economy]( is crushing it. Do Not Pass Go Source: I Think You Should Leave Drivers in New York are waking up to the fact that they may have to [start paying a toll]( when they go below 60th Street — and most people aren’t happy about it. The proposal — called the “Central Business District Tolling Program” — would cost anywhere from $9 to $23 and may go into effect as soon as next spring. But Liam Denning rightly asks: “What even is the Central Business District?” New Yorkers will do their business anywhere — and I’m not just talking about [public restrooms](. The other night I saw a girlboss on the sidewalk outside of a bar, clickety clacking away on her laptop at 9:30. Plus, after [4,000 pages and three years]( of environmental review, at the very least these officials could have come up with a name that forms a cool acronym. “Gridlock Obligation Tolling and Highway Accountability Measure” is just as lame, but at least it spells “GOTHAM.” To me, “NYCBDTP” sounds like an illegal weed dispensary. This city is teeming with marketing mavens and KPI queens. Why not just ask them to add some pizazz to the CBD thingamajig? Here, I’ll kickstart the brainstorming session: - The Eater Escape Fee: An easy way to avoid that rando eating a tuna sandwich on the bus! - The Feces-Free Commute Fee: Shell out or submerge yourself in a sea of subway rats — and their excrement! - Pay to *Not* Play the Mystery Floor Liquid Guessing Game: Did someone just spill their coffee on the ground, or is that ... something else?? Ugh, fine. OK, so this branding exercise may be harder than it looks. But that’s because New York’s alternative transportation systems leave much to be desired. Although New Yorkers don’t want “to be in a gridlocked taxi with the air-con set at something approximating an angel’s whisper,” as Liam writes, the other big public-transit option — the subway — is occasionally accompanied by an [outbreak of violent crime](. “Giving people a choice between a toll and a daily dose of angst is not the stuff of lasting political compacts,” he explains. Maybe New York could learn a thing or two from London, where a congestion charge was introduced 20 years ago. Traffic fell in the affected area by about 15%, and the toll money allowed the city to dramatically transform its bus and railway systems. But London also had a complete reorganization of city government under its first mayor, which allowed for greater coordination across the board. In New York, we’ve got a smorgasborg of tolls, which is why some truck drivers avoid the Queens Midtown Tunnel like it’s the plague. If the city can’t clean up and coordinate, the congestion charge is a mess in the making. Read [the whole thing]( (in traffic, probably). r/Blackout Explaining Reddit to someone who has never used Reddit is like trying to describe a strange ache in your body to a doctor. There is no combination of words that will perfectly convey what seems to be occurring in your internal organs, but you’ll give it a go anyway. I too will make a measly attempt to tell you what Reddit is and why it’s been in the news lately. Let’s begin with the technicalities: Every social platform has an API. That stands for “application programming interface,” and it’s basically the key to that site’s backend technology kingdom. Web developers can access information on the API to create “third-party apps” that operate as glorified “expansion packs” to the original social platform — kinda like how The Sims™ has a [Cats & Dogs]( bonus pack. [Hootsuite]( is a good example: It gathers information from the API of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. to help you schedule social posts on those respective platforms. In the past, many social sites had mostly free APIs so that their platforms could grow and benefit from this ever-expanding network of third-party apps. But then they realized, “Oh yeah, actually we need to make money, how about this API thingie?” So slowly but surely, getting access to the API of Facebook or YouTube or Twitter became a costly endeavor for third parties. Reddit was one of the holdouts: It kept its API open so that its users — many of whom are fiercely devoted to the site — could build external apps. But Dave Lee writes that it “has paid a price for staying cool and no-frills: [The company isn’t profitable](.” Now, in the eleventh hour before [a potential IPO](, the company wants to charge people to use its API so that it can pocket some cash. The trouble is that a lot of those third-party app developers and their users have been using the site ever since its inception, and they’ve [been staging blackouts on their respective subreddits](, from [r/AskHistorians]( to [r/relationships]( to [r/Blind](. [Users with disabilities]( — who rely on third-party apps to help them navigate Reddit — worry that the API changes will make the site inaccessible: Source: r/Blind And these fees are no joke: Dave spoke to an app developer named Christian Selig, who says the API access will cost him “approximately $20 million a year.” At that price, he will have no other choice but to shut his app down. But it’s people like Christian that keep the site running. Reddit is angering its “huge army of volunteers” who moderate comments and keep communities in check. The API fee creates a death-spiral of sorts: “Moderators removed 56.9 million pieces of content in 2022, according to Reddit’s most recent transparency report. If that were left to Reddit’s own small workforce, each of its permanent employees would have needed to review and remove approximately 30,000 posts each,” Dave explains. Reddit’s CEO seems weirdly [nonplussed]( about the whole thing, but a lot of others believe that the site is [destined to turn to crap]( — which is probably what your doctor says about your strange body ache, too. Telltale Chart Whenever a kid has a growth spurt, there’s always that one relative who says: “Woah!!!! What are they putting in your lunchbox these days?!” It’s a bit that can get stale fast. But for real, I do want to know what Brazil has been eating for lunch these days, because these gains?? They’re nothing short of incredible. Juan Pablo Spinetto says [the Brazilian economy is on an absolute tear](, thanks to “its openness to new technology, recent infrastructure projects, the expansion of its capital markets and a more sophisticated business environment.” Further Reading China is being [awfully picky]( about which US officials it chooses to engage with. — Bloomberg’s editorial board More welders, less bankers: Why Hong Kong has [a white-collar recession]( and a blue-collar boom. — Shuli Ren One route isn’t enough — companies should have [multiple options for shipping](. — Brooke Sutherland Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk have discovered the joys of [artisanal Italian chocolate](. — Rachel Sanderson Biden should strike [a trade deal with Latin America]( before the willingness of current leaders fades. — Shannon O'Neil The time to buy [Japanese stocks]( may have finally arrived. — Merryn Somerset Webb ICYMI A [cyberattack]( on the US government. Synthetic [human embryos](. Secession rumors in [Northern California](. Kickers A [piña colada]( for all your moods. An [NYC commute]( to end all commutes. [Tights]( shouldn’t be used as shoes. [Taco Bell]( wants to be used as shoes. Notes: Please send piña coladas and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](