But over the a long time, the second handed; a cordon toll has change into more and more out of date. The system can’t differentiate between a van that strikes round Manhattan all day making deliveries and a van that travels two blocks from the West Aspect Freeway to a non-public storage. Any knowledgeable proposing a congestion pricing program at the moment would suggest a toll based mostly on time spent touring, or idling, inside the congestion zone, and London is now exploring what comes subsequent.
Second, Mr. Cuomo’s motive in enacting congestion pricing wasn’t to cut back congestion, however to boost cash for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as its bills outpaced billions in annual tax revenues. The legislation included no congestion-reduction mandate, however it did embody a revenue-raising mandate. The M.T.A. needed to increase $1 billion a yr in order that it might borrow towards that cash to boost $15 billion for infrastructure. In London, the purpose of congestion pricing was to chop driving, not increase massive quantities of cash; this system there raises solely $460 million yearly.
The strict $1 billion requirement locked the state right into a program that couldn’t be versatile. It might have began off, for instance, with a modest toll for vehicles, say $8, and solely throughout peak hours, say, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. As an alternative, the M.T.A., constrained by its income requirement, was pressured to plan a 24-hour program, with a decrease price at evening. (London’s program operates solely from 7 a.m. to six p.m.) The toll, unavoidable within the late-night hours when mass transit is rare and congestion nonexistent, started to look extra like a tax than a price.
These handicaps to an optimum congestion pricing program didn’t must be insurmountable. However 2024 New York is just not 2019 New York. Town’s gradual restoration from Covid-19 lockdowns left little room for error. As of 2022, the final yr for which full information can be found, the variety of individuals coming to Manhattan every day was 28 % beneath 2019 ranges. Driving has recovered extra shortly than transit ridership, with automotive journeys now near or above 2019 ranges, and transit journeys lower than three-quarters of regular for that yr. Congestion pricing thus dangers encouraging some drivers to work at home extra usually or out of Manhattan altogether moderately than attempting mass transit, lowering Manhattan’s probabilities for a full financial restoration.
New York’s deteriorated public security and decreased public order since 2020 additional harmed the prospects of congestion pricing. Individuals are reluctant to return partly as a result of they really feel unsafe on the trains; New York has suffered 35 subway homicides since 2020, most of them random. Earlier than 2020, it took practically 17 years for the transit system to amass such a demise toll. Dysfunction is rampant. Equally, it’s exhausting to conjure up visions of site visitors easily flowing on congestion-free streets when the general public is frightened of moped and e-bike drivers zipping each which means, crowding pedestrians off sidewalks and common cyclists from bike lanes.
