Congestion Pricing

PRO Benefits everyone
BY KATHRYN S. WYLDE
The people of Queens should celebrate Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal to charge a fee to cars and trucks that drive into the most crowded areas of Manhattan during busy weekdays.
Traffic headed to and from Manhattan contributes to air pollution and clogs the streets and highways of Queens. Queens residents who take a bus to work or drive to jobs within the neighborhoods of Queens, end up stuck in Manhattan-bound traffic that contributes nothing to the Queens economy. A trip through Queens that should take 30 minutes actually takes 53 minutes due to traffic generated by the concentrated economic activity of Manhattan.
The Mayor’s plan would speed things up on the streets of Queens and pay for improvements in public transportation that will make life better for everyone.
So why are Queens politicians and some business groups expressing opposition to the Mayor’s plan? Primarily because they aren’t considering how damaging traffic congestion is to our New York economy. They complain that congestion charges for entering Manhattan would be an unfair tax on residents of the boroughs.
But, all New Yorkers have been paying an invisible congestion tax that is far higher than the proposed $8 fee for cars entering Manhattan. A study conducted by the Partnership for New York City found the cost of traffic congestion in the Metro Region is more than $13 billion a year. This translates into higher prices for consumer goods and services, higher costs of construction, and higher costs of doing business. Congestion relief will reduce these costs and save all of us money.
Some argue that a Manhattan congestion charge would hurt small business, but the fact is that nothing is better for business than streets that are free of gridlock so that customers can get to the stores, deliveries arrive on time and employees don’t face hours of delay in getting their jobs done.
The local florist, for example, could make more deliveries in the same amount of time and save money on fuel and labor costs because of less idling in traffic. In cities that have tried congestion pricing, business has improved and revenues have increased.
Another complaint about congestion charges is that some people have no choice but to take a car into Manhattan because there is no convenient bus, subway or train service.
The Bloomberg administration has identified 22 communities in the city where current mass transit options are inadequate. As part of their plan, they will provide express buses and other services to these communities - including many in Queens - BEFORE imposing a congestion charge. Every New Yorker will have an option if they cannot afford the $8 fee.
Traffic congestion pollutes our air. It contributes to global warming and to health problems such as childhood asthma and lung disease. And, it makes the city a less pleasant, less efficient place to live, work and do business.
The Mayor’s plan includes more than 100 big ideas for making our city cleaner, greener and stronger. More parks, lower energy costs, more affordable housing, better public transportation and more efficient movement of traffic. It deserves support in Queens and in every borough of the city.

Kathryn S. Wylde is the President and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, the city’s leading business organization.

CON Un-fare for boroughs
BY DAVID WEPRIN
A few months ago, when asked about the feasibility of imposing a congestion-pricing scheme, word out of City Hall was that the proposal was not a viable option.
Making a 180 degree turn, it was announced the other day that commuters are in store for a head-on collision with a congestion pricing tax that could cost them as much as $2,000 a year. The reversal of course is even worse for small businesses that employ trucks to ship their products into Manhattan, as the suggested fee for them would be set at over $5,000 a year.
Regardless of what argument you hear out of City Hall about the necessity of implementing a congestion-pricing scheme, it is a tax; and it is a tax being levied on those who can least afford it during a time when the city is enjoying a $4 billion surplus. Traffic congestion is a problem that needs to be addressed, but other alternatives should be studied before we punish commuters who live in the outer-boroughs.
Commuters, small businesses and working class families, as well as other outer-borough neighborhoods who have very limited access to public transportation and have to rely on their cars to get into Manhattan would unfairly suffer from a congestion tax.
The area I represent in the City Council, Eastern Queens, like many other neighborhoods outside of Manhattan will be devastated by a congestion tax because it will leave people with the unenviable choice of either paying more money to get to work, or traveling long distances to reach the few crowded forms of mass transit that are available to them.
Any congestion-pricing scheme implemented by City Hall would be disastrous to commuters, small businesses and working class families who rely on unfettered access to Manhattan to earn a living.
There are many traffic mitigation alternatives that should be employed, which would cost city residents nothing while greatly lessening congestion. Other traffic mitigation alternatives include more vigorous enforcement of existing traffic/parking rules, like cracking down on double- and triple-parked cars, preventing trucks from parking in loading zones once they’ve completed their deliveries and stopping taxis from middle-of-the-street pick-ups and drop-offs.
Improving traffic management, offering incentives to motorists and businesses to use mass transit, and improving the public transportation system, especially in the outer-boroughs will also reduce traffic without having to impose another tax.
No one can ignore the fact that we do have a congestion problem but the idea of taxing commuters, small businesses and working class families as the only means of reducing traffic is absolutely repugnant.
Mayor Bloomberg has previously stated that a congestion pricing tax would not, and could not, occur until mass transit infrastructure improvements were made, yet a congestion tax could go into effect immediately while these improvements could take more than a decade.
Like many problems, traffic congestion can be dealt with by innovative ideas, but there is nothing innovative about a congestion pricing scheme because it is just another unfair tax with which we are all too familiar.