Congestion Pricing Will Mean Fewer Cars, Safer Streets and Cleaner Air
David R. Jones, The Urban Agenda
The city’s subway system celebrated a milestone recently with the recording of its billionth rider in 2023.
In the media capital of the world, it’s a story that many may have missed. But it served as the latest sign that riders are indeed coming back to the city’s public transit system after the coronavirus pandemic decimated bus and subway ridership numbers, pushing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to the brink of financial collapse. Overall, ridership on the subway system is regularly surpassing four million riders daily, or about 70 percent of the pre-pandemic average of 5.5 million daily riders.
Still, I have to admit I was disappointed to learn that the system’s “billionth” rider was not a New Yorker. That distinction went to a New Jersey commuter from Bergen County. And that’s notable because the “Garden State” is at the center of a lawsuit that seeks to put the brakes on New York’s plan to generate more than $1 billion annually for public transportation improvements.
Congestion pricing, which was approved by New York State lawmakers in 2019, is designed to discourage the use of cars in one of the world’s most traffic-clogged urban centers, reduce dangerous carbon emissions and remove some 143,000 vehicles from midtown Manhattan. Under the plan, cars entering Manhattan south of 60th Street during peak periods could be charged a toll of up to $15 dollars per day. Taxis would pay $1.25 per fare, with ride-hail apps like Lyft and Uber charged $2.50 per ride. Commercial trucks would pay $24, with the very largest trucks paying $36.
Revenue generated by congestion pricing – approximately $15 billion — will help finance crucial transit projects in the MTA’s $51.5 billion 2020-2024 Capital Plan, including investments in buses, subways and commuter rail. It will also create tens of thousands of local jobs throughout the state.
As a member of the MTA Board, I strongly support congestion pricing. Without it, New York City will eventually choke on its own traffic problems. Not to mention walk away from our best opportunity to generate the necessary funding to upgrade and bring the city’s mass transit system into a state of good repair.
However, not everyone is apparently on board with New York’s forward-thinking policy to end the vicious cycle of endless gridlock and more air pollution. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is leading the fight against congestion pricing, arguing that it will result in more traffic and pollution in his state as motorists try to avoid the toll. It’s a stance that seems very much at odds with Murphy’s reputation as a self-proclaimed environmentalist and champion of policies to reduce carbon emissions.
New Jersey politicians may try to slow down congestion pricing with legal challenges at the federal level, but they cannot stop it.
Even so, it is a shame that the courtroom battle over congestion pricing playing out in the media is overshadowing one of the most powerful arguments for congestion pricing. Because after nearly a century of deferred maintenance on a mass transit system that serves as the primary mode of transportation for the city’s communities of color — both in the transit labor force and among millions of daily riders — New York is finally going to make basic, systemic upgrades to the public infrastructure they depend on.
During the pandemic, we witnessed the value of the public transit system as a lifeline for essential workers across the city’s service sector, most of them working-class Black and brown city residents. With congestion pricing, we now have a potent remedy for what has been a persistent inequity at the heart of New York’s previous failures to invest in the MTA network. And those investments are long overdue.
With the $15 billion raised by congestion pricing, dozens of subway stations will be made accessible. Signals from the 1930s will be upgraded to allow for more reliable subway service. The Second Avenue Subway Line will (finally!) be extended up to Harlem-125th Street. And four new Metro-North stations will be built in the East Bronx, providing quick and easy commuter rail access not only down to Midtown, but also up to New Rochelle, Stamford and other employment centers north of the City.
Before congestion pricing goes into effect, the public will have an opportunity to comment on the plan’s proposed toll rate schedule. Public hearings will be held early in 2024. Concerns about how the plan will impact communities will be aired and will help inform the final plan. A vote to adopt the plan is expected to happen in the spring.
For now, the idea of a city with fewer cars, safer streets and cleaner air sounds pretty good.