Stay on track, people
Afrenzied state budget deal got us on our way at long last, but snarled vehicles and breakdown-prone subway cars are still stalled far from the promised land of congestion pricing. That is, far from a rational system of fees that would properly price driving in the most crowded parts of the city at the busiest times, in the process raising billions of dollars to upgrade the subways and buses upon which the vast majority of us rely.
That’s the transformative arrangement an advisory panel tapped by Gov. Cuomo boldly called for in January.
Instead, the “major, major achievement” Cuomo now hails as a “first phase” of congestion pricing slaps per-fare fees on taxis, Ubers and other for-hire vehicles in Manhattan south of 96th St., around the clock and starting next year: $2.50 for taxis and $2.75 for the e-hails, along with some new bus-lane enforcement.
Given that funds will go into a lockbox, to be spent only on mass transit — with the first $418 million funding the city’s share of the urgent subway action plan to address punishing delays and breakdowns — it’s nothing to sneeze at.
But if phase one becomes the whole enchilada, and there’s a very real risk it will, the state will have missed a massive opportunity. An independent report last month from former city traffic official Bruce Schaller projects that new fees on for-hire vehicles will decrease traffic in central Manhattan by a mere 2%. Drop, meet bucket.
And there would be something deeply unjust about slapping the whole burden of paying for a subway turnaround on the backs of already beleaguered cab and Uber drivers, while letting private cars and trucks skate.
The necessary prerequisite to go further is the Legislature okaying scanners and related technology needed to charge all cars and trucks entering the central business district. That, for now, is on indefinite hold; Cuomo says wait til next year, soonest.
Hope for an actual fee charging the equivalent of a bridge or tunnel toll to get off a free bridge and enter Midtown? From where we sit, that now looks at least many years away. Nuts.
If not now, when? The governor, Assembly speaker and a critical mass of elected officials have voiced support for full congestion pricing. Even timid Mayor de Blasio is now cautiously on board.
Don’t let the momentum slip away, ladies and gentlemen. Press and press and press to bring the rest of the plan into focus. No train traffic ahead.