The Brian Lehrer Show

I love the idea of congestion pricing.

What I don't understand is how the bridge and tunnel tolls can be subtracted from the congestion toll. If you pay a toll to get in to the city, you actually have an incentive to drive into the congestion zone (since it costs you nothing to do so).

Please enact congestion pricing. It is LONG overdue.

ms quinn

please work this out as fast as possible.

i'm so sick of being assaulted by out of town traffic in midtown. please from NJ and upstate down even pay taxes to support the roads they lay siege to twice a day

What about the 58th St. Bridge coming in from Queens? Currently drivers can either exit onto 63rd St (no toll), or 60th (toll). This will increase traffic on one roadway and not the other, sending a traffic jam back into Queens. I have heard no mention of this anywhere.

80% of New Yorkers do not have a car. Pedestrians should rule the streets. It is time to make cars second class citizens in this city. i hope that congestion pricing is just the beginning.

Why do people think that this will do anything to reduce congestion? Has anyone ever driven in from outside Manhattan during rush hour? It's a pain. You have to really not like taking public transportation or be in a special situation to do this.

This is the equivalent of a sin tax like on cigarettes. All I see this doing is adding more in the coffers to the city. How do we know this will go to more subway tunnels and buses?

And how will this affect reverse commuters who made the decision to stay in NYC and pay taxes and not move to Long Isl and NJ? Do they get a break? What if you have to commute from Queens, Brooklyn, to NJ?

I'M FOR IT. I'D ONLY LIKE TO SUGGEST THAT THERE COULD BE A GRANDMA'S CLALUSE WHICH ALLOWS FAMILIES FORM OUTSIDE MANHATTAN TO VISIT UP TO 3 TRIPS PER MONTH. THIS IS VVERY EASY TO DO CONSIDERING THE PROGRAM WILL REQUIRE A DATA-BASE FOR IMPLEMENTATION.

"Working class" people don't drive cars in New York City. The extremely wealthy do. That is a silly argument bred out of the American tendency to claim to be "Middle class" no matter how much money you make.

Donald Shoup, UCLA

why increase cab fares? A cab increase won't keep cabs out of midtown. It will only drive people away from taking them, and maybe drive cabs out of business.

Cabs are quite expensive these days. I'm making more money than I ever have, and I've never been more reluctant to take cabs because they've become so expensive.

It's bad for passengers and bad for drivers. (I used to drive a yellow cab. I'm an art director now)

Under present parking regulations, the lower half of both the UWS and UES will turn into a living hell for resident car owners who use on street parking, as NJ and NY Upstate commuters leave their cars in the "border areas."

Alternate parking and street cleaning regs MUST be realistically adjusted, if the congestion plan is to be implemented.

It still costs more for a family of 5 to take the train to Manhattan from Ct. than to drive and park.

Staten Island does have Mass Transit. There is a train line that runs along the spine. Plus the MTA is planning Bus Rapid Transit for SI. Still, I'm sure it sucks getting to Midtown if you live in Tottenville.

Could you ask the Honorable Councilwoman if the city would fund my thesis research on the current public opinion in regards to wards congestion pricing, specifically market rate parking.

What about the concept of free or very low subway and bus fares during rush hours. Not just in Manhattan but in the other four boroughs as well! That would be a carrot instead of a stick and would work better with the mentality of the majority of NY'ers. H

The toll to get into the city should be $25. End of problem.

I am a middle-income NJ resident who has always supported public transportation -until the last NJ transit rate increase. Now I count the passengers - if it's more than 2 I drive. Increasing the cost of my drive will not move me back to the train, it will decrease my visits to NY. Other increases, such as ticket prices for concerts, have already reduced the frequency of my visits. I think better funding of public transportion needs to be part of the equation or you'll lose business and workers willing to come to NY.

Here's what to tell the people from Westchester and NJ who feel like they're being picked on...city residents pay CITY INCOME TAX to help support the infrastructure of this city. It is only fair that those commuters from outside of the city who affect the infrastructure pay up to support it!

How about an agressively enforced $150 a ticket double parking fine? It would, in effect, be congestion pricing, fining only those illegally parked and making it less desireable to drive in as they see how little parking there actually is. By my house in Greenpoint they could easily write ten tickets in any given fifteen minute period

I am a resident of NYC. I am often out of town and return to the city during the week - daytime. Will I also have to pay this fee for "coming home"?

RC,

Congestion Pricing has been implemented in London, Singapore and Norway I believe. It works - period. There is something like a 50% reduction in traffic. You are right in calling it a sin tax, and it is a sin to drive when you can take mass transit. For reverse commuters, I don't think they would be hit since they face enough tolls to cancel out the $8 fee. Anyway, I'm sure the number of people commuting from BK or Queens to NJ is pretty miniscule.

Miss Quinn: NYC cartraffic does contribute tolocalized smog and air pollution in general, but car exhaust's contribution to the greenhouse effect is minmal in compariosn tothe real cause, power plant emissions, which is most directly attributable to inefficiently cooled/heated/illuminated homes. So - what isthe real reason for the congestion pricing concept? Obviously not"greening" the city's transportation complex, especially since the scheme itself claims that at best it will only reduce traffic by 6%! And that only if the system once in place actually works, which is highly dubious since the cameras upon which the system would relie have difficulty holding up to precipitation, vandalism, and EMF interference. Wake up people: the whole thing is a big excuse for gearing up surveillance. Think about it. If the government really cared about reducing traffic and air pollution and boosting ridership, wouldn't it use Occam;s Razor and carry out the most obvious, cheapest actions?: reduce fares or even eliminate them; ban traffic from long streets suchas 2nd Ave and allow only BRT express buses; subsidize car pooling and "trasitcheks"; set up a local gas tax at service stations within the five boroughs; ban on-street parking or at least make meter rates exorbitant; OFFER FREE BICYCLES TO CITY WORKERS; etc.

When will they directly connect the midtown tunnel with the holland. An overhead roadway would decrease local traffic. Also, if I park a car on 85th and drive in daily above 86th, park, then walk to the "MIDTOWN" vechicle, can I defeat the system if I keep the mule within the boarders, then park and walk back to my leisure/commuter and then drive home?

Can you ask the speaker - and to those in favor of the tax on goods and services on New Yorkers - about GOVERNANCE - What will be the MECHANISMS and ACCOUNTABILITY to make SURE that the Xmillion of dollars raised by this new tax will be used to improve and expand mass transit AND that the billions are currently raised to fund the MTA are NOT Diverted to other things AS IS CURRENTLY BEING DONE by our 3-card monty players at the State Legislature and City COuncil? Will there be TRANSPARENCY to ensure that ALL Of this money and the money currently allocated to the MTA will go to mass transit instead of just playing around with these funds?

to the first post from Jon_S - Good question. The answer is that this HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CONGESTION - THis is a scheme to impose a tax that will not do anything to address congestion and the environment.

IF that were the case we would be addressing the increase of taxis and Livery cabs which account for 1/2 of the vehicles in Manhattan during the week. ALSO, This tax will be used to cover funds currently going to the MTA which will be moved to fund other projects - I.e., Add $5 from 'Congestion'pricing to the MTA budge and with the other hand SUBTRACT $5 from the MTA funds and divert them to other budget items - NET EFFECT is that the MTA will continue to have the same kind of funding levels we have now and we will be stuff with a Tax that will be reflected on the goods and services we consume -(e.g., Do you think gallons of milk are beamed to our local bodegas? nope - They are trucked in - That $21 fee on that truck of milk needs to be paid by SOMEBODY!!

Quinn's ridiculous pretense that congestion pricing will yield significant health benefits, in addition to being incredibly ignorant, illustrates the vacuity of the arguments for this blatant extortion of the multitude of working people of the NY metro area for whom the disgusting, decrepit and unreliable state of public transportation in this area render it a nonviable alternative.

As mentioned above, no one is fooled that the fees collected will do anything to mitigate the failed MTA, rather than funding yet another patronage boondoggle.

The cure to Midtown congestion is threefold:

1) Effectively enforce double parking laws.

2) Intelligently plan and manage the traffic impact of construction and repair activities.

3) Require developers to responsibly consider and affordably accommodate the traffic ramifications and parking requirements of their projects in planning and practice.

Raising parking fees is an interesting idea, but how would they make the 1st payment apply for the whole day, the way it would if people paid to get into the city below 86th? Or would drivers have to pay $8 (as the caller suggested) every time they moved their cars? That would really add up.

On the other hand, I really like Sara's suggestion (comment 18) about raising the penalty for double parking & enforcing it strictly. Raising regular parking charges would likely increase double parking.

Most people who drive into or thru Manhattan during the day are usually on their way to a job that is not conveniently reached by public transportation. Bloomberg does not seem to understand that most of us are not millionaires! What a jerk!

This is just part of a continuation to make the middle and poor class poorer. Rich people just don't care about this type of thing. There must be a better way to get more income and stop traffic.

I live in midtown and commute "out" instead of "in" to the city. Will I have to pay a fee?

(1) City employees use placards to park illegally in congested areas. I see a lot of off-duty cops using "no standing" zones as their private garage (2) There are too many double-parked cars with minimal enforcement (3) Toll plazas need to be eliminated so that the flow of traffic is not interrupted (license plates can be scanned in order to collect the tolls.) (4) Put a "brownie" on every block in the congestion zone during rush hour (5) Create a fleet of water taxis, especially for NJ & Staten Island residents (6) Restrict deliveries until after 10am (7) Build another tunnel.