NYC Traffic Fee Plan Gets Red Light

Lawmakers Ditch Mayor Bloomberg's Plan For Congestion Pricing In Manhattan

(AP)  Lawmakers rejected a proposal on Monday to charge Manhattan motorists an extra fee to drive in the city, a plan advocates hoped would reduce traffic and curb pollution.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced the decision after a survey of Democratic Assembly members in a private conference. The decision comes after days of closed-door negotiations, and means the city will forfeit $354 million in federal funding for trying to kick-start the plan.

The concept aimed to cut traffic and pollution by forcing more commuters onto mass transit. It would have charged most drivers $8 to drive below 60th Street between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Truckers would have paid $21.

The Legislature faced a Monday deadline to act on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposal, which was already endorsed by Democratic Gov. David Paterson, the Republican-led Senate and the City Council.

Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser did not immediately comment.

The plan ran into strenuous objections from legislators from outer boroughs and New York City suburbs who said it would unfairly target commuters and their constituents.

"The conference has decided that they are not prepared to do congestion pricing," Silver said. "Many members just don't believe in the concept. Many think this proposal is flawed. It will not be on the floor of the Assembly," he said.

Silver said part of the problem with the proposal, which Bloomberg had said could begin next year, is that it doesn't immediately provide funding to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He said the agency that runs the city's mass transit is already underfunded and needs to be bolstered before it takes on more commuters.

[cyberus-2009]

Nice concept ... make people pay to drive on a taxpayer funded and maintained road.
So only those that can pay and extra $8 over and above what it costs to drive in NYC now will be allowed.

Gotta clear the riff raff off the streets to make way for the wealthy to make their commutes in peace must be.

Glad it failed .... save the taxpayers millions in legal fees when the ACLU sued for restricting travel on public streets.

[lottobee]

Bloomberg went about this in the wrong way. Putting a fee on a trip into Manhattan would not have produced results. People who insist on driving to work would have paid the fee and this would not have lessened traffic and congestion. In many cases their employers would have covered that fee so most people would have complained all the way to work while driving in their cars. If you really want to do something about the environment and the overwhelming congestion in Manhattan ---- you restrict all private passenger cars from coming into the city until after 11 am. That''s the way to do it. Make it impossible for all non-essential passenger vehicles to travel into the city during rush hour. Bloomberg, being a businessman and not a real environmentalist ---- devised a plan which would fill the city coffers but would fail in its ultimate objective. Get non-essential vehicles off the road during the morning rush hour and you''ll see a dramatic difference. The environment will improve and people will gradually learn to use public transportation. And they''ll get more exercise and live longer and have more money to put away for their retirement.

[payasyougo]

Its comforting to know that every mismanagement, misstep and mistake by your government is always an opportunity for more tax revenue.

[excoachken]

This is NOT about pollution or difficulty ion driving. Bloomberg, like every other elitist, feels that money is the answer to everything and that everybody has an easy time getting it. He should live on a poor man''s budget for a month before considering this "environmental" socialism.

[joe1022joe]

New York City, like parts of Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area aren''t really part of the US anyway. Who cares?

[destardi]

New York City, like parts of Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area aren''''t really part of the US anyway. Who cares?


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Posted by joe1022joe at 08:16 AM : Apr 08, 2008
+ report abuse

How American of you.

You''re not really an American, so why bother posting your comment? Cuz see, anyone/anything you disagree with must obviously be errant, deviant, and completely un-American.

Im not sure what bothers me more; someone taking the time to login and write such an idiotic comment, or the comment itself.

I dare you to stand up and say that in a room full of New Yorkers in the midst of 9/11.

[destardi]

New York is a dying city anyways


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Posted by hrod56 at 06:22 PM : Apr 07, 2008
+ report abuse


Suuuure it is.

[destardi]

Ya know, reading joe''s and hrod''s comments, I see why America is failing as a country, overall...thanks guys..most definitely liberals of the obama loving type; Clinton supporters would never insult an American city and stereotype it.

[mgdvt]

Mass transit in NYC could not handle all of the additional riders if cars were banned. If you think mass transit is crowded or delayed now, add all those extra passengers.

[newsjunky5]

In lieu of the toll to enter NY city, Mayor Bloomberg has urged legislation that gold-belted radials be required. Now if he could only get the city to stop making its own gravy everytime it rains.

[tomanyt]

Why not just ban cars in the city center? Other countries have done this and it works fine. Why do you need a car in NY City/Manhattan anyway, you can walk anywhere you want to go?

[newsjunky5]

This fee is similar to the old USSR practice of special permission to live in Moscow. Next they''ll be charging us like $100 to venture outside the country, and wiretapping our phones without warrants.

[piano_man2]

Anyone who concocts a scheme like this one is an idiot and should be ignored as well as pitied!!!

[mjvw2]

A hot dog is a type of fully-cooked, cured and/or smoked moist sausage of soft, even, texture and flavor. It is usually placed hot in a soft, sliced bun of approximately the same length as the sausage, and optionally garnished with condiments and toppings.

[newsjunky5]

Closing the city center to traffic is a good idea. It treats everyone equally.
Often equality under the law is circumvented by charging a high fee. This has the added incentive of the income it brings in. It also is an incentive not to do anything about congestion.
If your city adopts "hot lanes" where you pay for a less congested (formerly free) lane, consider the other lanes are going to get worse. And the lawmakers will have to chose to give up that revenue to solve any future traffic problems.

[culturechang]

I am suprised they rejected. Govt is alway looking for a way to get bigger and increase revenue.

[kkcbs]

This plan has worked very well in London for many years. Why are all of you people so unwilling to try something possitive?

It hasn''t worked well in London at all.

They collect the money, and then in turn DO NOT spend it all on public transportation. It is just another tax income.

It is getting worse in London, allowing smaller cars for free and greatly increasing the fee for other cars. Makes no sense.

[cyberus-2009]

----
Why not just ban cars in the city center? Other countries have done this and it works fine. Why do you need a car in NY City/Manhattan anyway, you can walk anywhere you want to go?

Posted by tomanyt
----
Now while I am against the "fee to enter" concept (as mentioned in earlier post), if they banned anything but public transport and emergency vehicles while it might make people unhappy it would be fair. My issue was with making it more expensive which IMO is low-income discrimination.

[keithle1]

Why penalize truckers by making them pay $21? What choice do they have?

[keithle1]

Walk? Have mercy. Some people are too fat to walk.

[shoppingnut-2009]

They say the MTA couldn''t handle it, that is a crock because after 9/11 no one was allowed to drive in, only essential vehicles. The 6-8 months after 9/11 was the best commute I''ve ever had. The MTA isn''t underfunded, they just mismanage their money like everyone else. And besides, we all know that this increase in toll money would never make it''s way to the MTA anyway, who are they kidding with that one.

What needs to be done is that they should restrict deliveries into manhattan during morning rush hour so they aren''t blocking the streets and causing traffic. I don''t know how they were planning on tolling the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and 59th St. bridges because they are all free now, so you''d have to put a toll on them and people would go nuts if that happened.

They need to eliminate the tax credit companies get for reimbursing employees who drive into work, that will help reduce traffic. Give people who use mass transit some type of tax credit, you would need to have a certain amount of receipts from purchasing train/bus tickets.