The Brian Lehrer Show

Will taxi's have to pay the charge when returning to manhattan? if so, won't they refuse to take passengers to brooklyn?

The MTA cannot handle the flow of passengers without congestion pricing. Today it was announced that upgrades promised in the wake of the fare hike will not happen now. I have no confidence the MTA will enhance service for the thousands who will take the train instead of the paying $8 to enter Manhattan. Let's ramp up service first, then employ the pricing plan.

The MTA gives us a fare hike at the beginning of the month, ostensibly to increase service. Now they say that they don't have enough money to implement changes, so too bad.

Does anyone REALLY think that this congestion pricing baloney is actually going to help commuters? I don't.

Living in Greenpoint between the L and the 7 trains I know that people are going to be blocking up my streets increasing the pollution in my neighborhood and decreasing the quality of life for my neighbors and myself while insuring that our commutes are twice as bad as they are now.

This is a horrible plan that only serves the people of midtown and New Jersey commuters. The working people of the outer boroughs are the only ones who will suffer.

I live in Manhattan, above 60th Street. Will I have to pay eight dollars to drive my Smart Car from 158th Street and Broadway to Greenwich Village

Why isin't the "exclusion zone" the entire island of Manhattan? It seems that from an infrastructure standpoint it would be easier and less expensive to implement and monitor. Why not use the natural benefits of the island?

How does the plan treat electric cars?

I'm all for banning all cars from many major NYC streets and allowing only taxis and licensed livery cars and buses.

There are also some streets that don't allow cars to park at all.

They do this in some cities in Europe and it seems to work every well.

I want the MTA to get more on top of things and provide democratic and efficient service for all, everywhere in the city.

I'm all for this. Something has to change. Other very congested cities in the world have had more radical solutions (like "odd" and "even" number license plate days in Rome), and this one offers benefits towards improving public transportation.

I do think more accommodations need to be made for people who HAVE to take their vehicles in (carrying heavy equipment for your business; too ill to use public transportation and are seeing a Manhattan doctor/hospital).

I live in NJ and I think New Jersey residents should not get off so easy--we have to do our part with everyone else and pay more during those peak times. The money from our tolls doesn't go into the same pot as the congestion pricing funds, and there needs to be more to deter New Jersey residents from taking their cars in when they don't really have to.

Re: Congestion Pricing

Once the tolls on the East River Bridges proved a non-starter, suddenly there was the idea that there are too many cars in central NYC. Rather than keep them out (Minimum 2 or 3 per vehicle), "congestion pricing" was proposed. It's simply a means to raise MTA revenue, a tax by any other name.

Funny thing is the proposal says that there'll be 11% fewer cars coming in from Staten Island. Since they already pay at least $5.000 to get to Brooklyn, and more if they use the tunnel to Manhattan, why think they'll suddenly stop using their cars? Many of them car pool anyway, at shared cost.

A Tax is a tax is a tac, even if you call it "congestion pricing!"

Ditto Jamey Sadownick at 2.

I'm an economist (bet you couldn't guess *g*), and I favor congestion pricing. BUT, it's being done in the wrong order. Public transportation first, then congestion pricing. As usual, pols get it backwards, and the people lose.

What guarantees, if any, are there that the money generated from congestion pricing will actually be used to make significant improvements in the MTA system?

After all, MTA's track record is appalling in this regard...why will things be different this time?

Signed,

Cynical New Yorker

I think residential parking permits are a good idea, but people shouldn't worry about others parking outside the congestion zone because there is no parking in this city. I used to live on the Upper West Side and would routinely have to drive around for at least 30 min. before I could find a spot for my car. I have since moved to Park Slope and while its better there, I would never drive in from Long Island and stop off there. Just not time efficient.

some commuters from out of the city go over the GWB and down the Westside Highway or FDR and into Brooklyn everyday. Will they have to pay the $8?

thx

As someone who pays exorbitant rent to live in NYC and $500 per month to garage my car and keep it off the street, I am apalled that I will have to pay to DRIVE OUT of the city.

This congestion pricing is not to drive INTO the city as everyone says, it is to drive IN or OUT.

People who clog the tunnels with their cars every morning have alternatives of mass transit. It doesn't work the other way - I can't get to where I'm going (New Jersey, upstate NY) using mass transit. And I am REDUCING traffic by leaving the city.

Living in the far end of Queens (Little Neck) we have often driven on weekends to Long Island City, parked, and taken the #7 train 3 stops to Times Square to go to the theater. After years of doing this, rather than drving into Manhattan, we now will not be able to because we won't have a neighborhood permit?

I am concerned that the money to help improve transit won't come until after will all suffer more crowded subways. Express buses don't always help already over crowded subways in Brooklyn (the B line!)

I have asked in several places, but what (if any) charges are planned for motorcycles or scooters.

By the way, All 5 boroughs are clogged!

It still doesn't seem fair.

It just seems like this is designed to make the roads easier for the rich.

Why can't there be a different system which is equitable.

I live in NJ and I can tell you that there is no such thing as a reverse commute, and we have traffic problems of our own. There should not be any exemption for people coming the opposite way.

Like your caller who asked about cutting across Canal street to get from Brooklyn to Jersey, I live in a part of Brooklyn where the quickest, MOST FUEL EFFICIENT and often ONLY way for me to get up anywhere is by using the Battery Tunnel into Manhattan and taking either the west side highway or the FDR uptown. Is there any thought as to leaving these arterial roads no cost and only charge when cars leave these roads?

Make more bicycle lanes! Look at Berlin, with it's beautiful bicycle lanes, complete with traffic lights and barriers.

Two wheeled vehicles are not exempt! They should be - they don't block traffic and cause congestion.

I am all for congestion pricing coupled with residential parking permits.

Brian Lehrer Show responds: Please try and keep your comment civil and on topic.

If Bloomberg were not a hypocrit, there's really simple stuff he could do to reduce congrestion in midtown. I live at the 53rd St exit to FDR drive, and 53rd Street is one of the stupid no-turns streets to ease crostown. However, its also a building mushroom location, with all the new 40 story buildings (replacing 5 story walkups), fronting on the street with no driveways for off-street pickup & delivery. So now you will add all that double parking to the other congestion, when zoning requirements could easily have required driveways. Bloomberg is all for helping RE developers and hurting regular folks.

How about an application system for people who may really need to take in their cars (cancer patients at sloan kettering; musicians traveling to jobs with heavy electronic equipment; contractors...). They could fill out an application and plead their case and hope to get something like a Transit Chek to defray the costs of congestion pricing for them.

As someone who pays $500/month to garage my car off the street in the City, I should not have to pay for the privilege of driving it out of the city, to NJ or upstate. People who clog the tunnels every morning have the alternative of mass transit. I can't get to where I'm going in New Jersey by train or bus.

If you're going to have congestion pricing for Manhattan, why won't you have it for the people who will suffer most - those living in neighborhoods in the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn closest to Manhattan?

#14 - El. I live in Sunnyside, right next to LIC, and it's ALREADY a problem that so many residents from Western Queens and Long Island come and park in our neighborhood. Weekday mornings, there are easily hundreds of cars already crawling the streets and less than helpful parking lots under the 7 train. The congestion is already ridiculous. We cannot handle anymore. And should this stupid thing pass, you better believe that residents of my neighborhood deserve a parking permit at the loss of those who would drive to my neighborhood and take up all the spaces!

its all about the money. if it was about the traffic, then it should be on the weekend.

below 14th st mon-fri, you can move just fine untill eve rush hour. but on sat and sun it is

totaly gagged up with cars, NOT TRUCKS , going across lower man, from the bridges to the Holland tunnel to save the cost of the verazono. i agree with the above, fix the mta, then put in the pricing... cuz if the mta dose not work.. then people will still drive no matter how much it costs

El: you probably have the LIRR near you in Little Neck - why don't you take that? Quick & efficient into NYC.

The MTA needs to put more public facilities in the subway stations and have better customer service at the booths to offset the cost of congestion pricing.

They need to run more 4 or 5 trains everyday to accomodate the new crowds.

This congestion pricing system is being misrepresented as a fee to ENTER Manhattan, which it's NOT. One must also pay to leave Manhattan which is not fair, because the mass transit opportunities to get to NJ or upstate do not exist. It is punitive especially considering that I pay a premium, $500, to keep my car off the street in Manhattan. By leaving Manhattan by car I am reducing the load on the city, not increasing it.

To the person going to Carnegie Hall (57th Street) from your home on the Upper West Side by taxi:

Unless you're going to Carnegie Hall for a concert taking place Monday through Friday between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. -- which would be highly unusual -- you won't have to pay congestion pricing for your cab ride.

But a larger question -- unless you're disabled or elderly -- why would you take a cab to Carnegie Hall from the Upper West Side?? The bus or subway gets you there faster and more economically. I've lived on the UWS for 30 years and have gone to CH regularly for all that time (I'm in the music business so it's work as well as pleasure). I cannot imagine getting there in any way other than subway. And taking the bus or even walking are additional options going back home. The few times I've taken a cab thinking it would be faster and more relaxing -- I'd get stuck in traffic and be totally frantic about being late. So save your pennies and use mass transit -- you and the rest of the city will be better for it.

I think the congestion pricing is just another attack against the middle working class people. What Mayor Blomberg doesn't realize is that not everyone is as financially subtle as he is. He sits in his thrown and comes up with ways to get the money out of the pockets of middle class working people, most of them who work 6-days a week.

On the other hand, they spend "our" tax money on unnecessary things like the new Yankee stadium. I certainly do not see any need for a new stadium. I think it is absurd that they are wasting money on a new stadium especially considering that the new one is even smaller the current one.

1. toll credit/offset (pages7-8) This is clearly unfair to city residents as proposed, as e.g NJ commuters will have their tunnel/bridge toll credited against the CP fee. So a brooklyn resident paying no bridge toll bears the full brunt... as usual punishing us NYC residents with another added "extortion" for living and paying taxes here, IN the city. Why should the very people that fled the city to live in the cheaper suburbs get a break?

proposed solutions:

a .how about exempting ALL NYC residents (we DO pay taxes here after all)?

b. capping or eliminating the toll credit. maybe they simply should NOT be related to the CP issue...after all their raisons d'etre DO differ

c. requiring PA NY&NJ to contribute toll moneys to CP. The city council has proposed this. To me this still ends up punishing NYC residents

2. charging trucks $21 will just hurt commerce and raise prices on things people LIVING IN NY pay. To be sure, trucks are nasty pollution spewing things. But we live in and on this island and isolated boroughs. We need trucks to bring goods to us. It's a reality. Even the greenest of commodities have to be trucked to us here. After all, we dont drive our SUV's to the mega market or mall to get our goods...why punish us by adding fees to our already more-green supply chain?

3. Taxis. Ever been in NYC during a taxi strike? Suddenly it feels like tombstone arizona. Not to mention the fact that having these big for V8's guzzling around ALL DAY makes no sense. Coucilman Yassky has gone the right way with requiring hybrids by 2012. Let's go further: make them ALL ELECTRIC by 2015.

Still, taxi's should pay a larger percentage of the CP fee. Taxi's are a luxury just as driving a car around manhattan, there's no difference. The discouragement of driving in favor of using MASS TRANSIT should be similarly applied to taking taxis vs MASS TRANSIT. it's that simple.

4. Residential Permits. Although they sound great, and do address the problem of overcrowded neighborhoods, they are burdensome for residents. I've lived in cities with these (DC and LA) and are annoying and confusing to deal with. Have friends or family visiting from out of town? You gotta get a permit on their car. NYC is a special dynamic place. People come and go. Our permitless parking is actually something we should not take for granted. It's manageable when you understand the rules and regs and facilitates the constant in and out flow of people living here, something that makes NY very special.

jim morrison

DangerousBreed

Brooklyn NYC

What about checking on the cities around the world that already have congestion pricing? How has it worked(or not) in each of these cities?

After Mayor Bloomberg announced his intention to bring congestion pricing to NYC, a man in London wrote an OP/ED piece about how the money that London said would be raised, was not. So they increased the price. How the amount of traffic that London said would be curtailed,was not. So, they just lowered their estimation. The amount of air pollution that London said would be eliminated,was not. So they lowered the estimation on that as well.

CHECK OUT THE CITIES THAT ALREADY HAVE CONGESTION PRICING!

5. Motorcycles NOT exempted in the plan. That's wrong.

6. Boondoggle Contracts potential. Which corporation(s) is going to rake in millions for putting up the cameras and sensors et al.? I'm reminded of watching and wondering with bewilderment the removal of THOUSANDS of perfectly good walk-dontwalk signs to have them replaced with the icon versions. How many millions did THAT cost? What was the profit margin for the middlemen? To what end? So many of the new ones are already failing.

7. No more cameras watching us.

Have you noticed how most of those who support congestion pricing tax begin with the caveat: YES, IF. Given the MTA's record of not keeping its promises, we should demand improvement in mass transit FIRST and then proceed to enacting a program to reduce congestion. Otherwise, we would be pouring money down a black hole. Remember the scandal of the MTA keeping two different sets of books, the disappearance of the lottery money intended for education, etc., etc. Manhattan is becoming more and more an area affordable only to millionaires. LET'S SAY NO TO ANOTHER TAX.

There is a fundamental question about the whole Congstion Pricing debate that has never been answered to my knowledge.

Why is everyone assuming that the price increase will have a mesaurable effect on the traffic?

Everytime the TBTA tools were raised, it was stated by every politician that it would ease the traffic, becuase people would be less likely to drive into Manhattan. It has NEVER had that effect. The reason is obvious if you think about it.

It is based on the assumption that people drive into Manhattan for a kind of joy ride, and if you just make it a little more expensive, they will decide to go some other way. I think this is total hogwash. I state first that I virtually never drive into midtown on a weekday, so I am not directly affected. But no one in their right mind drives into midtown on a workday unless they ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO! People who have to drive there, cannot be disuaded by an $8 charge, especially if $6 is forgiven if you spent it crossing a river. It is manifestly silly!! There is a totally false and unquestioned assumption about WHY people drive into Manhattan. Until there is an answer to that, there is simply no case for believing that the extra cost will lower the traffic even 1%. It is really just another toll.