Now’s the time for congestion pricing

The nation’s first congestion relief zone will soon go live in Manhattan’s central business district after more than two decades of public debate and analysis. As the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board prepares to vote on the pricing plan for vehicles entering the zone, anti-taxers and special interests are mounting a last-minute campaign to stop a fair and balanced program that will generate $15 billion in revenues to finance maintenance and expansion of our region’s mass transit system over the next five years and create more than 20,000 jobs.

We have the country’s largest public transportation system, carrying more than four million riders a day. To provide adequate and reliable service, the MTA depends on a combination of fares, tolls, and taxes that are borne by riders as well as local government, businesses, and real estate investors. Vehicles using the tolled MTA bridges and tunnels contribute to the system, but not on parity with other revenue sources. Congestion pricing tolls will rectify that disparity.

At least 85% of regular commuters to Manhattan use public transit, so those impacted by the congestion toll constitute a small minority. For the most part, these are people who can afford garage parking at prices that dwarf the proposed daily charge of $15.

It is no accident that chief among the voices protesting the toll are more than 100,000 public employees who have government-issued parking placards allowing them to park private cars for free in often illegal curbside spaces across the city.

One of the objectives of the congestion program is to entice drivers to switch from cars to transit, which has been successful in London and Stockholm. According to research commissioned by the Partnership for New York City, excess traffic costs the region more than $20 billion a year in lost time and productivity, as well as causing environmental and health damage.

Large and small businesses have much to gain in reduced overtime, lower fuel costs, and more predictable delivery schedules because of traffic reduction.

Since the pandemic, traffic in the region has only gotten worse. The average commute time for people who drive to work in the city is 43 minutes, the longest in the nation. Excess traffic harms residents as well. The latest Mayor’s Management Report shows a deterioration in response time for both police and firefighters due in large part to traffic congestion.

The process for developing the pricing program involved extensive public comment and federal review, suggesting that court challenges brought by opponents will not be successful. The authorizing state legislation and conditions imposed by the federal Department of Transportation include special provisions for lower income drivers who have little or no choice but to commute with their personal cars.

Federal programs also provide for reimbursement for Medicaid patients making hospital or physician visits in the zone. Tolls are sharply reduced between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., when traffic is lightest, giving trucks an incentive to maximize overnight deliveries.

Despite receiving more than 120 separate requests for exemptions from the toll, our review panel proposed only two new exemptions — one for commuter buses, which help reduce cars on the road, and another for specialized municipal-owned vehicles such as snowplows and garbage trucks.

Our goal was to make congestion pricing serve the many, not the few. The more exemptions we proposed, the higher the base toll would be for everyone else. Experience of other cities has demonstrated that exemptions are not only inequitable but pave the way for fraud and abuse.

There are areas of the region where commuting by public transit remains inconvenient or difficult, and here we see a need for careful MTA review of their priorities for system expansion and introduction of new services. The public review process provided ample input on where transit options should be increased, and services added.

Over the past two decades, the city has turned over limited street space for public plazas, bike and bus lanes, and open-air cafes. At the same time, we have welcomed more tourists, added thousands of new businesses, and tens of thousands of additional jobs. Gridlock was the inevitable result, and it has reached a point where corrective action is urgently needed.

Our panel’s recommendations, when adopted by the MTA Board, will make it faster and easier for vehicles to navigate the city and the region. The result will be improved air quality, reduced fuel consumption, speedier bus service, and more efficient delivery of goods. In short, New York’s congestion relief zone will be a boon to our economy and enhance our quality of life. This is an investment in New York’s future that is well worth making.