By Joshua Feigin, Business Editor
On November 18, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) voted in favor of a congestion scheme to be implemented on January 5, 2025. Proposed for decades, the toll was planned to finally take effect on June 30, 2024 with a charge of $15 for private automobiles entering Manhattan south of 60th St. This was only after defeating a slew of oppositional lawsuits. New York Governor Kathy Hochul, however, in a surprising reversal, paused the toll. This left many speculating that she was attempting to gain political favor with swing suburban districts.
Hochul’s authority to overturn the plan approved by the state legislature was challenged in court and she has acquiesced to restart the initiative. In January, President Trump will be back in office, who has been vocal against additional tolling. Therefore, the Jan. 5 start date is an attempt to activate the new fees before Republican governance can launch further opposition.
The current iteration of congestion pricing will charge $9 per day for unlimited entry to private automobiles entering the congestion zone, which notably excludes the West Side Highway and the FDR, meaning that only drivers entering local Manhattan roads off the highways will be billed.
Taxis will face a different pricing structure, wherein each trip in the congestion zone will include a fee of $0.75 for yellow city taxis or $1.50 for other rideshares such as Lyft and Uber. Buses and trucks will be subjected to higher rates, while motorcycles, low-income drivers, city employees and trips during “off-peak” hours will pay discounted rates. Similarly, a credit will be discounted for drivers already paying other tolls to enter the district on routes such as the Holland and Battery tunnels. The standard $9 per day charge will be incremented to the full $15 by 2031.
Those in favor of the scheme argue that the city will experience a plethora of benefits. The MTA reports that approximately 700,000 vehicles enter the central business district (CBD) daily, crowding local roads to the point that the average travel speed of cars is a measly 7.1 mph. This inefficiency has led to increased police and fire department response times and greater levels of air pollution, reducing the overall health of the population.
Furthermore, noise pollution from honking, collisions, as well as crowding on sidewalks are concerns affecting the liveability of the city. Proponents point to the fact that despite moving a minority of travelers, cars dominate the vast majority of the streetscape. From a space efficiency perspective, a city as crowded as New York simply needs to prioritize the most efficient methods of transportation. Parallels are drawn to cities such as London, Singapore and Stockholm, where similar schemes have led to reduced automotive usage, pollution and gridlock, along with an increase in economic productivity due to time savings for travelers. Businesses have also reported increased revenues in pedestrianized areas.
The funds raised by congestion pricing will be used by the MTA to improve reliability and accessibility to subways that serve millions per day in the CBD, as well as expand the existing system to make more trips convenient by public transport. A dependable funding source (as opposed to variable state budgets which fluctuate year to year) for the MTA budget will allow the agency to improve financial solvency and execute long-term projects. Advocates argue that even for those not using the subway, these investments will nonetheless take some cars off the roads, leaving more space for those who opt to pay the toll. In America’s most transit-connected district, removing cars from the road is long overdue, those in favor argue. In fact, many argue that the $9 base price is not high enough.
However, opposition has been strong, raising many counterpoints. Many trips to the CBD already require payment of steep tolls, fees and taxes, such as $15.38 for the Lincoln Tunnel from New Jersey, various city levies added to taxi trips and parking taxes. Adding more dues to the already steep existing charges is seen by some to be overly burdensome to residents paying some of the highest housing costs and taxes in the country.
Although Manhattan is generally well served by transit, there are still many cross-regional trips that transit does not adequately serve. Tolling when sufficient alternatives are unavailable is argued to be unfair. Businesses have expressed concerns about decreased patronage of suburban customers, and districts adjacent to the CBD worry that traffic will spill over onto their roads in an effort to avoid the toll.
Perhaps one of the best counter-arguments to the new charges is that the MTA spends the funds it currently has wastefully. A notable example is the second phase of the Second Avenue Subway project, which will require an estimated $6 billion to add 1.5 miles to the Q train to extend from 96th to 125th St. Construction costs have soared, with New York earning the number one spot as the most expensive city in the world for transit expansion. Inputting more money into an inefficient system will not fix the inefficiencies, opponents argue.
Assuming all goes according to plan with no more last-minute political stunts, the effects of congestion pricing will soon be known. The scheme aims to make a healthier, more efficient, economically productive and liveable city. Some goals such as decreased gridlock and increased transit funding will likely be reached. To what extent it will succeed and whether or not it will have been worth the added costs to drivers remains to be determined.
Photo Caption: A NY highway
Photo Credit: Connor Coyne / Unsplash