Full speed ahead: Congestion pricing inches closer to reality
What the MTA bureaucratically calls the Central Business District Tolling Program is really congestion pricing, which charges private vehicles driving into crowded Manhattan below 60th St. a small fee and applies the revenue toward subways and buses. Debated and discussed and championed by this page for decades, now it’s on the verge of actually happening, as it should have been long ago.
The benefits are many, from less traffic, which is good for drivers, air quality and wear and tear on the roads, to improved transit. Everyone wins, including drivers, who will have quicker trips.
The concept was sound when Columbia economics Prof. Bill Vickrey came up with it in the 1950s and it remains so. Vickrey won the 1996 Nobel for the theory and other aspects of his work on “efficient pricing of public services” and sadly died two days later. In lay terms: You want to drive on heavily trafficked roads, then you pay a little for the use of that scarce public resource.
Passed by the Legislature in 2019 after a big struggle, Gov. Hochul is all in on congestion pricing, as is Mayor de Blasio, as must be the next mayor. Tomorrow begins a series of 10 public meetings on the plan, mandated under federal requirements for approval. Due to COVID, the sessions are virtual, with people signing up to speak via computer or good old telephone at (646) 252-6777. If you want your two minutes on the record, register by 5:30 p.m. on the day before each meeting.
Consider this editorial — and all the ones that preceded it going back decades — our endorsement. Ignore the carping from Jersey pols and only allow a credit against the congestion fee for drivers using the four tunnels feeding directly into the zone: The Lincoln, Holland, Brooklyn-Battery and Midtown. Dedicate the proceeds to fund better transit.
When the cashless tolling finally starts, the traffic will go down and the money will go up. And the only problem will be that we wasted years getting there.
