Feds Give NYC Transport Money, Want Congestion Charge for Manhattan

The idea of paying to drive on the streets of Manhattan is one step closer to reality. The US Department of Transportation has approved a $350 million grant to improve transportation in New York City. In return, the New York authorities are going to have to approve some form of congestion pricing, like Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to charge cars $8 and trucks $21 to enter Manhattan below a certain street. The city can’t afford not to do this, and all of America should be watching.

Congestion pricing is not untried. London, which has traffic problems to rival the Big Apple’s, has had a system like this in place since February 2003. Six months into it, Transport for London [TfL, a local government body responsible for most aspects of the transport system throughout Greater London] issued a report showing 60,000 fewer cars in the central zone of London than the previous year, a 30% drop. Over half of those 60,000 moved their trips to public transportation, 20-30% avoided the central zone, and the balance shared ride, took bicycles or walked. Journey times fell 15%. In short, it bloody well works.

To pull this off, London has had to put up countless closed-circuit TV cameras to photograph license plates and built a computer system to analyze it. Manhattan, as an island, may have an easier time of it. The Holland, Lincoln, MidTown and Brooklyn Battery tunnels already charge tolls as does the George Washington Bridge. Other bridges are free, but under what is locally known as E-Z Pass, a computerized system for toll collection, tolls could be charged easily enough.

Where this will get tricky is for residents of Manhattan and the treatment of those driving into Manhattan but staying uptown of whatever the final boundary street is. London has a system of exemptions that could well work in New York if adapted to local needs. Deliveries will become more expensive to shops without some kind of break, and that could be accommodated as well.

The trouble is that the decision makers are in the New York State legislature, not the city council. Representatives of people from Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown and Syracuse will get to decide on the traffic future of New York City. It would be a shame if their views prevented the DoT money from being spent on badly needed infrastructure – which is a genuine threat if the congestion pricing plan isn’t approved in some form.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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