Congestion pricing could be implemented in a number of ways.

1. Singapore uses a transponder and cash card system. All vehicles sold in Singapore have the transponder installed into which a cash card is inserted. Every time the driver enters the congestion zone or transponder-enabled parking lot, money is deducted from the card.
2. London uses an online subscription service and automatic licence plate number recognition for validation / enforcement (and charging vehicles that are not registered). The subscription service works because London has different discounts and exemptions, including low emissions (non-diesel) vehicles.
3. The automated toll highway in the Toronto area uses transponders and automatic licence plate number recognition for validation / enforcement (and charging vehicles that do not have a transponder). This technology (similar to the E-ZPass) could easily be adapted for congestion pricing.

I agree but I believe that the size of the trucks allowed may have to be restricted. Smaller delivery trucks may ease congestion.

I agree. In fact, the number of Uber and Lyft vehicles has only added to the congestion. But the subway system would have to be fixed to make it more reliable. The legislators agreed, saying that NYC transit should be fixed before congestion pricing and restrictions are brought in.

The money raised from congestion pricing could and should be used to maintain the subway system.

Traffic, including taxi traffic, is slow in Manhattan because of the congestion. If congestion pricing successfully takes traffic off the streets, what is left should be able to travel faster.

I believe that you do need some regulated and licensed taxis on the streets to transport visitors to the city (tourists or business people). But price taxi rides into and out of city centre appropriately -- regular pricing to get out of the city but add a surcharge to enter the city.

As I said above, traffic, including bus traffic, is slow because of the congestion; reducing the congestion should increase traffic speed, including buses.

But reducing the size of buses to shuttle bus size (e.g. Ford Transit wagon, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter mini bus), along the lines of the Ford Chariot last-mile shuttle service is a good idea.

 

Do you realize that parking for a few hours around most congested parts of Manhattan is $50-60? Do you think extra $10 toll will stop anyone from coming to a Broadway show?

 

Bit, what happens is this - many people live in the outer boroughs and work in Manhattan. In some of these boroughs, public transportation is often horrible, so they drive to work. If there were parking lots near the bridges and tunnels that could accommodate all the private vehicles driving into Manhattan, and then all these drivers could get around Manhattan on foot or use subway (within Manhattan itself the subway is great).

And the fcking taxis and uber, I simply have no idea who takes them. I'm in Manhattan almost every day, and usually have many different stops that I go to, and I never bother with taxi or Uber, its much faster to walk or take train.

 

Reducing size of the buses so they could make turns without blocking intersection forever and having them run flexible routes via an app similar to uber pool - so this way they are far more useful to the passengers. Right now buses all over NYC (not just Manhattan) are a complete joke.

 

I would play the carpool game, wife, son, myself, I'm paying $6.50 today to use the Holland/Lincoln/GW, not $15, not $12.50, not $10.50, whatever, PEAK. One has to use any legal advantage they can, to get the costs down. $10 is nothing, which is why it should be $50 or more. Am I using public transportation x 3 people so x6 roundtrip, when I can drive in for $6.50 and parkwhiz for $22? Unlikely.

The theater crowd is interesting--I was standing, legally parked, during Christmas, and an Explorer was backing into a space in front of me (west side maybe 48/50/52 facing East), and a Mitsubishi goes head in and took the spot. Explorer backed up and tough looking dude but decently dressed, gets out, goes up to the driver side. I was really surprised no fist fight. 20 min. later Mitsubishi leaves, Explorer backs in, and I put my window down, I saw the whole thing, surprised there was no fight. Guy goes we are peaceful people, what that guy did was not right, so I let him know it. He claimed he would only be there a short time, so we waited, as we're going to see a show.

 

Why are they a joke? When my wife worked in Manhattan, she took the NJ Transit, then changed to the MTA. This makes a lot more sense than driving in, which I doubt she could afford to have parked daily anyway, forgetting about how much time taking the bus saved.

 

NJ buses are actually ok, but try Brooklyn and Queens.

 

I find it hard to believe that NYC is broke/having budget issues like some of you say. I mean the amount of $$$$ generated from property tax must be insane. How many $1 million plus apartments are in the city??? How much property tax is each one of those???? That's the one thing I like about where I live, the politicians(state and local) know how to do a balanced budget without an income tax.

 

L.A. will follow suit if NYC passes it..

to an extent we already have a "congestion" charge in some areas if you consider that the 110 and 10 Freeways allow the use of single person vehicles in the HOV lanes if you have a fastpass and pay the toll.

 

I usually go to NYC for business first few times I drove then I started flying. I see no point in even driving in Manhattan, walking and train is faster to get around.

 

No. What we have on I-66 goes beyond simple "Express" lanes. You pay, with the transponder (EZ-Pass), during rush-hours, to use the road, period. The amount is constantly calculated by the number of cars on the toll-stretch vs. the number waiting on the entrance ramps to get in.

 

 

It's affected the Bay Area too. On some parts of I-580 and I-680 the HOV lane which recently you could use if you had 2+ persons in the vehicle are now FasTrak lanes and you MUST have a FasTrak to use them, less the cameras get you and a nasty little bill follows a month later. So carpools now require the FasTrak, just having 2+ persons doesn't cut it now.

 

Interesting. There are a couple of obviously ideological posts here that mirror a lot of political views. Possibly people actually travelling during peak rush hours for Manhattan. OTH, bureacracy grows like the weeds you try and keep out of the lawn but keep coming back persistently.

Any kind of solution that's going to be enacted by a clunky bureaucrat is going to be essentially a large hammer when all you need is a finishing tool. The problem is that a large number of people do not want to share a transportation device with another large group of people. So they use private vehicles and want to use those private spaces to travel at the same time.

Sometimes, Americans do have a class system. It's just based on money vs European blue blood royalty. There won't be an ideal solution because of geography and peak demand. These types of tolls or fees never sell well, but they do also change behaviour over the long term and that is really the end game as opposed to simply trying to tax and spend on bureaucratic solutions or fund some sort of metro transit system.

 

Nice rant but nothing is going to change with mayors like deblasio.