Congestion Pricing
Streetsblog Basics
Schaller: Road Pricing Won’t Fly Without Driver Support
Road pricing isn't going to happen unless drivers want it to, writes Bruce Schaller, one of the architects of New York's congestion pricing push. That's the central conclusion of a new paper Schaller penned for the journal Transport Policy [PDF].
May 5, 2010
Ghost of Congestion Pricing Lingers at RPA’s 2010 Regional Assembly
Even when there's no breaking news at the RPA's regional assembly, the annual get-together at the Waldorf Astoria is a good time to gauge the collective mood of the people who run the region's transportation systems and think about planning for New York City's future. How often do you get the heads of the MTA, NYCDOT, and the Port Authority all in the same room?
April 16, 2010
In Any Language, the Cost of Congestion Comes Through Loud and Clear
It’s not often that you get to see your work set off a Eureka moment for someone else -- particularly when that someone is from a different
culture. But I had that experience recently, and it seems worth sharing on
Streetsblog in light of the interest shown today in my analysis of the travel
delay costs from FreshDirect deliveries.
March 18, 2010
Congestion Pricing Can Help Save Working NYC Families $2,300 Per Year
Without bold action from legislators to fund transit, middle-class New York families will have to spend $2,300 more per year
to get around the city even as the quality of the service they're
paying for declines, according to a new analysis released today by John Petro of the Drum Major Institute.
February 16, 2010
Gov’s Proposed NYC Tax Hike: A Testament to Your Local Pols, New Yorkers
So it's come to this. With transit revenues plummeting to the point where the MTA has to deal with a $400 million shortfall on top of an austerity plan that already calls for deep cuts in service, Governor Paterson yesterday proposed shifting the burden of the MTA payroll tax to fall heavily on New York City businesses. The idea is to tax city payrolls at .54 percent and suburban payrolls at .17 percent, skewing the flat .34 percent rate established last spring.
February 9, 2010
More Bad News for Transit Funding: Payroll Tax Comes Up Lame Again
The MTA’s budget picture took another turn for the worse today. The payroll tax instituted as part of last year’s funding package continues to raise far less revenue than expected. Which means that even if the extensive service cuts on the table take effect, the MTA will still have to deal with a $400 million … Continued
February 3, 2010
Infrastructure Bigs: To Compete, NYC Needs Congestion Pricing, Tolls
At a panel put on by the New School last week, some of New York's biggest players in transportation and planning came together to discuss the future of the city's infrastructure. They all seemed to agree: The city can't keep up with its global competitors without new sources of revenue.
February 1, 2010
Lawmakers Stricken With Collective Amnesia as Transit Cuts Loom
When Albany slapped a Band-Aid over the MTA budget hole last spring, no one except the architects of the plan pretended that the transit system was actually on sound financial footing. As yet another day of reckoning approaches, lawmakers continue to go to bizarre extremes to avoid admitting that their slipshod funding package has failed.
January 13, 2010
With Congestion Pricing, Saving Time Trumps Reducing Pollution
A prime target of the early environmental movement was car tailpipes. And for good reason. Put a human in a garage with a running auto in the old days, and he or she would pass out within minutes and be dead in an hour. Run a few million vehicles daily in New York or Los Angeles, and the toxic air would kill thousands each year and sicken many more.
January 6, 2010
NYC Health Department: Traffic Is Poisoning Our Air
In a first of its kind report for the city, the Department of Health has issued a wake-up call for New Yorkers of all stripes: Car and truck traffic is killing us, in more ways than one.
December 16, 2009