Gridlock alert for all transit
New Yorkers are kicking off a long holiday weekend today, and many will be traveling. Not only is today expected to be the holiday season’s single busiest day for air travel — good luck getting a cab to the airport — but Waze predicts that highway traffic will peak today, too.
Recognizing the strain today’s travel demand will place on New York City streets, the Department of Transportation has issued its 10th and final “Gridlock Alert” of the season. Gridlock Alert Days are “some of the busiest traffic days of the year” during which the DOT encourages us to “consider walking, biking or taking public transportation whenever possible.”
But these Gridlock Alerts could be as easily applied to our transit system as they are to our roadways. The transit system is in a state of crisis; directing more people to public transportation during one of the busiest travel days of the year is asking for headaches.
As anyone who has ridden the subways or buses knows, cuts to basic upkeep have crippled the network and led to crowding and delays. And streets across the five boroughs are increasingly clogged with traffic, which results in buses that travel at walking speed.
What New Yorkers consider a normal peak-hour commute would be considered catastrophic in most cities. We don’t have to accept this. Fortunately, Gov. Cuomo has said that congestion pricing — that is, charging drivers a toll to enter Manhattan below 59th St. — is “an idea whose time has come.” Our state elected leaders must take action in the upcoming budget session to make it a reality in New York City.
Currently, only people using subways and buses — the most space-efficient modes of transportation — pay to travel into Manhattan below 59th St., while spacehogging drivers can choose between four free bridges — the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensboro — and a variety of routes coming from the north.
But with a congestion pricing system in place, everyone contributes something to fixing New York’s broken transit network, and everyone gets something in return. While the benefits to Manhattan are most apparent, the benefits to Brooklyn and Queens can’t be overlooked. Today, some drivers in Brooklyn and Queens who might otherwise take a tolled route like the Battery Tunnel or the RFK Bridge drive a few extra miles out of their way to take a toll-free bridge instead. Eliminating these free options means less bridge-shopping and therefore less congestion in Brooklyn and Queens.
But the benefits to reducing gridlock would be outweighed by the benefit to transit riders. One proposal, developed by the former New York City traffic commissioner and now Daily News columnist “Gridlock” Sam Schwartz and economist Charles Komanoff, would raise an estimated $1.5 billion in net revenue for transit improvements every year. That means not just more frequent, more reliable service on existing routes, but also new service in places where transit is scarce.
Gov. Cuomo has given every indication that congestion pricing will be a key policy priority for him in 2018, and that he’ll push both Democrats and Republicans to pass it through the Legislature. A coalition of everyday transit users, safety advocates, and transportation, environmental, public health, safety, business and labor leaders is also gearing up to support a smart, equitable congestion pricing plan — and the elected officials willing to fight for it.
(And for those elected leaders who are inclined to kowtow to motorists who can’t see the benefits of congestion pricing, we’re going to let you in on a little-known fact: The majority of New Yorkers don’t own cars, and even fewer drive to work regularly.)
Working such a plan through the state Legislature will not be easy — traffic gridlock in the five boroughs is perhaps rivaled only by political gridlock in Albany. But we’re out of options. Gov. Cuomo said this week that the only plausible long-term funding mechanisms for the MTA are congestion pricing or a massive fare hike. One of those plans would make for a more equitable city. The other would hurt outer-borough and workingclass families who rely on transit, and do nothing to reduce congestion.
The complexity of planning for New York City’s transportation future requires bold action. With the public transit network throughout the city in disrepair, and traffic congestion a pox on our communities, it’s critical that New York’s elected leaders find the courage to enact a strong, progressive congestion pricing plan, and make today’s Gridlock Alert the last one we’ll ever need.