A new Quinnipiac poll reveals that people may support congestion pricing - if they get something in return. And that something is better mass transit.
It turns 58% of voters oppose congestion pricing (37% support), but 60% will support it if "money from the plan is used to improve mass transit in and around the city." Quinnipiac's Maurice Carroll explained, "Traffic is a horrendous problem, New Yorkers agree. But they reject all the ideas that are being talked about to ease it. Voters remain firm in their opposition to congestion pricing, but they would support it if - IF - the money is used to improve mass transit."
The Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission, formed as part of last year's deal and made up of appointees from various state and city officials, released a report with four other ideas to, uh, mitigate traffic congestion. Here are the options and their highlights:
- An alternate congestion pricing plan: The northern border would be 60th Street (not 86th Street as the Mayor's plan proposed), there would be no intra-zonal fee (the Mayor's plan had a $4 charge), drivers would be charged going through the central business district (the Mayor's plan had no charge); overall, it's an easier plan to implement.
- East River and Harlem River Toll Plan: Charge tolls - both ways, around the clock - on East River and Harlem River bridges; also easier to implement than the Mayor's proposed plan.
- License rationing: 20% of vehicles would be restricted from entering the zone, whose northern border is 86th Street, between 6AM and 6PM; enforcement by way of police officers and/or license plate cameras. There's less flexibility for businesses, there's possibility some households have more than one car, and the plan doesn't actually generate revenue.
- Combination plan: Basically doubling the parking tax in the central business district, eliminating the resident parking tax exemption in the CBD, raising meter rates, cutting down government parking permits in the CBD, charge a $2 fee in the CBD, adding a $8 fee for taxi trips starting or ending below 86th. Downside: The plan doesn't meet the requirement to reduce "vehicle miles traveled" by at least 6.3%, which the other options do.
You can read the report here (
PDF). Some politicians really hate the bridge toll idea and Streetsblog
found City Councilman John Liu's quote to the Daily News notable: "You can't seal off Manhattan like that. To think of Manhattan as a castle surrounded by a moat will not get anybody anywhere." (For the record, Liu does support congestion pricing.) And Kathryn Wyle, head of the Partnership for New York City, an organization that has supported the concept of congestion pricing in the city from its baby stages,
told the Post the license plate idea also sucks: "No rational business would relocate to a place where access is limited to four days a week."
Photograph by dogseat on Flickr
