Congestion charge could make it to New York this spring
Everyone knows it's going to be done, no one knows yet how: the "congestion charge" is coming to Manhattan. Mike Bloomberg finally won the capitulation of the plan's most ardent foe, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and with him out of the way, there doesn't appear to be any other obstacles.
All that's left now is the shouting, and there promises to be plenty of that. The question is how to charge everyone equitably, since people can arrive in Manhattan south of 86th Street (where the toll would take effect) in ways that already require them to pay a toll (like the Battery Tunnel, which is $8 round-trip with E-Z Pass). Refunding the congestion charge was an idea, but that was deemed too complicated. (However -- and not to throw our New York friends under the bridge, as it were -- bridge and tunnel tolls weren't created to cut down on traffic into the city, so would a bridge/tunnel toll and a congestion toll really overlap?) Any solution will take a fine mix of fairness, technology, PR, all of Bloomberg's negotiating savvy, and, frankly, somebody taking some lumps.
The plan still needs final approval from the City Council and State Legislature, which is projected to go Bloomberg's way on March 31, 2008. But with 31 of 50 City Council members hailing from Brooklyn and Queens, all with a multitude of constituents who will have to pony up the ducats, the fine points of who pays what, when, and where, is still quite some ways off.
[Source: The New York Sun via Winding Road, Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
EJ25RUN 1:48PM (12/19/2007)
go DIAF communist pigs!!!!
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TEM 3:30PM (12/19/2007)
Indeed. Another legacy of Red Ken. And as if there already were not enough reasons to string him up.
Clyde Frog 4:25PM (12/19/2007)
Actually a true Communist would tend to make all roads free to everyone, whereas a Capitalist would tend charge to use roads based on what the market would bear. Get your slurs right. Besides, if you can't afford the toll just stay home and cut my grass you dirty peasant.
cowboy bob 1:54PM (12/19/2007)
New york city is the most tax unfriendly part of the most tax unfriendly state in the nation. Why not just club everybody that come in and steal their wallet. Oh..wait, they do.
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Jonathan 2:33PM (12/19/2007)
Spoken like a xenophobic tourist from a fly-over state. NYC is the safest large city in the world. Funny that most "tax unfriendly" part of the country happens to be the most well-educated and enjoys the highest standard of living.
geo.stewart 2:48PM (12/19/2007)
john, where did you pull your data from?
I get that its ranking is #1 in the US, but the world?
I find that hard to believe considering that in terms of quality of life, it ranks 41st in the world of large cities...
Chopper Dave 2:56PM (12/19/2007)
Jonathan,
I love NYC as much as the next guy, but don't break apart your defense of the city by pulling faulty numbers out of a hat. According to MSN Encarta, Seattle is the most-educated city. NYC is #20.
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Departments/elearning/?article=educatedcities
NYC has an excellent standard of living for those who can afford it; otherwise, it's shoebox apartments in decent neighborhoods, or decent apartments in crappy neighborhoods. In terms of lifestyle as it relates to cost-of-living, you'd do a lot better in a city like Chicago, where it's cheaper, cleaner, and a regular person can afford an adult-sized apartment.
Clyde Frog 4:12PM (12/19/2007)
Hey, 'xenophobia' was yesterdays Word Of The Day. Flip the page already. Today the word is 'Pupaphobia' as in "I don't agree with you!! You're a pupaphobe!!!"
Ready....Go!
cowboy bob 4:21PM (12/19/2007)
Huh? Are you guys really from New York?
Matt Keller 11:48PM (12/19/2007)
The scared ones are from either Jersey or LI, the stupidones are from either some flyover state or Queens, and the educated ones are from the upper east side. ;)
geo.stewart 1:55PM (12/19/2007)
as if NYC isnt expensive enough.
If I never step foot there again, it will be too soon. no offense to anyone living there personally. just not my cup o tea. I've already done a pilgrimage to the javitts center for the auto show and exoticar closed their store so for personal trips I am done.
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Mike 2:10PM (12/19/2007)
Haven't been there, pure speculation on my part but I'm trying to imagine why anyone would want to drive their car into NYC. The place looks like a fender bender factory to me.
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Dan 4:08PM (12/19/2007)
I live in Queens and work in Manhattan and take the subway into work everyday, but on the weekends I like to take my Land Rover Defender into the city and pick up things that I need. Traffic isn't all that bad if you live here on any normal day. The days when all the tourist come in around the holidays; then traffic gets a little bit on my nerves. But other than that most people I know are fine with the traffic. Its the people that come in to visit that are always complaining.
They are only putting this in because people can't stop bitching about the traffic, and the gov can make money off their bitching.
in my case, just own a car that you love to drive and be in and then it doesn't matter how bad the traffic gets ;)
Hooper 2:10PM (12/19/2007)
Recently, I read somewhere (here on Autoblog?) that there have been a few instances of UK license plates being counterfeited in order to get the London congestion fee charged to someone else (i.e., an innocent victim). I hope the elected officials in NY are aware of this anc come up with a way to deal with that problem here.
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Mark 2:10PM (12/19/2007)
Bloomberg is a total a**hole. Charging to use cars on public streets is idiotic. I understand the use of toll roads and such, but 97% of the time toll roads act as an alternative, faster route, so you are essentially paying for the convenience, but can choose to take a cheaper route. To tax people to drive on roads with no alternative? Idiot!
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AlexP 2:16PM (12/19/2007)
Yeah, there's an alternative.
Public transport.
AlexP 2:17PM (12/19/2007)
... And taxis, obviously.
Mark 3:27PM (12/19/2007)
So what? If you want to take public transit, then fine, you can. When I lived in New York City, I took the subway all the time, never wasted my time driving (or owning a car). That doesn't change the fact that you should have the right to drive your car through public streets for free. You should not be charged for it. If you want to drive, even though driving through the city is often a nightmare, that is your choice.
Tim 4:33PM (12/19/2007)
Just because you (the citizens) paid for the road does not mean you (the citizens) get equal access to it, even if it technically belongs to you (the citizens). If your king uses your money to create a road, then charges you a tax to use it, you'll pay it and like it.
BowserUSC 5:59PM (12/19/2007)
What the f*ck are you talking about. You're a moron.