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April 7, 2008
Congestion Pricing Plan is Dead in NYC -- A GOOD thing 
The NY Times reports that the congestion pricing plan in NYC is dead.
Good.
The plan was a complete mess. While it would lower congestion in lower Manhattan, it did so at the expense of the other boroughs.
Should NYC residents in Brooklyn pay an additional tax to take a cab ride over a bridge? Should companies in the Bronx give up on deliveries to lower Manhattan? Why is there no provision for those that own/park cars within the zone - which encompasses most of the wealthiest parts of NYC?
The NYC Congestion Pricing Plan was just a euphamism to tax city residents in the outer boroughs. Taxing people access to neighborhoods in their own city -- particularly business centers -- is an insult, not a solution. The plan creates an impetus for an exclusive transit-economy 'within the zone'... where there are higher priced deliveries of goods, and outside firms lose their incentive. We can easily imagine cab-drivers who will no longer travel outside the zone, because they don't want to worry about fares (only 3 years ago, cabbies would refuse drives across a bridge to waterfront communities like Brooklyn Heights/Dumbo/Williamsurg/LongIslandCity ).
If you've spent enough time in NYC, you'll notice that people in the boroughs avoid driving into manhattan as much as possible. The real issue with congestion in NYC isn't from people in Brooklyn or the Bronx... its people from suburban communities in Long Island, New Jersey, Connecticut -- who are causing congestion THROUGHOUT NYC, on their way to the city center. These are the people that take long drives in hours of bumper-2-bumper traffic, because they don't want a monthly commuter rail pass... or they prefer to drive. If you work in NYC, you know all-too-well that these people are disproportionately more than the others.
NYC residents already pay city, employment, housing taxes which go in part towards our roads and infrastructure... non-residents may/maynot pay employment taxes ( depending on how sneaky their employers are)... but aren't as taxed to the same extent.
If you want to fix congestion in NYC... and not just in the 'city center' but in NYC as a whole... the city should tax car owners and also tax the border arteries: NJ: Holland & Lincoln Tunnels, GW Bridge; LI: GCP, LIE. These arteries of commuters are where the greater problem starts, and where the solution should be applied.
Lots of people bring up London as a good example - I think its bad comparison. Manhattan is an island cut off from the other boroughs, most of which have become middle-class residential neighborhoods for those who were priced out. I've lived in Williamsburg for 7 years now? The L & JMZ lines fail far too much, and the bus system can't handle the overflow. Once I broke my toe and couldn't walk for a month from complications; I had to take a car service in every day to work. Under a congestion pricing plan, I would essentially pay a tax every day for living in Brooklyn. If I lived just 1 subway stop away, I would fall within the zone and not have to pay congestion surcharges for crossing 'into' the zone.
Posted by Jonathan at April 7, 2008 7:39 PM
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