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Between bridge and tunnel tolls, parking fees and the ever-present risk of getting a traffic ticket, it can already cost a mint to drive into Manhattan.<\/p>\n
Is forking over another $15 for the privilege of driving into the most traffic-choked parts of the island enough to finally get more people out of their cars and onto mass transit?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the hope, at least among some New York officials.<\/p>\n
The Big Apple<\/a> is close to implementing a plan that would use license-plate readers to turn all of Manhattan south of Central Park into one giant toll zone.<\/p>\n Most drivers in private cars would pay a\u00a0congestion fee<\/a>\u00a0of at least $15, or $22.50 if they aren\u2019t enrolled in a regional toll collection program. That would come on top of the already hefty tolls to enter the city via some river crossings, like the $13.38 to $17.63 it costs to take a car through the Lincoln or Holland tunnels.<\/p>\n That price tag, it\u2019s hoped, will lead to fewer traffic jams, reduce air pollution and provide a desperately needed annual cash infusion of around $1 billion for the city\u2019s subway and bus systems, which carry some\u00a04 million riders<\/a>\u00a0daily.<\/p>\n If the plan is finalized, New York would become the first U.S. city to join a handful globally with similar congestion pricing schemes, including London, Stockholm, Milan and Singapore, which is credited with\u00a0pioneering the first such program<\/a>\u00a0in 1975.<\/p>\n But the lofty plan, which is aiming for a summer launch, still faces roadblocks and questions about whether it\u2019s worth it.<\/p>\n Public school teachers are among those expected to plead for an exemption at\u00a0a series of public hearings<\/a>\u00a0that kick off Thursday.<\/p>\n Manhattan business owners are fretting about the impact on the local economy. Suburban commuters are furious over the prospect of even costlier workday drives.<\/p>\n The fee is a particularly tough pill for civil servants, many of whom don\u2019t have a choice where they\u2019re assigned, said Paul Caminiti, a public school teacher who drives in from Staten Island.<\/p>\n He says his options are either to swallow an additional $2,700 a year in fees to maintain his current half-hour drive or take as many as three buses that can take nearly two hours, including wait times.<\/p>\n \u201cTo the regular person that\u2019s paying all this extra money, that does mean a lot,\u201d Caminiti said.<\/p>\n For supporters of the plan, though, nothing less than the essence of New York is at stake.\u00a0Only about 40%<\/a>\u00a0of city households own a car. People who don\u2019t drive need a reliable and affordable mass transit system, said Danny Pearlstein, of the Riders Alliance.<\/p>\n \u201cNew York is utterly and completely dependent on transit,\u201d he said. \u201cNew York has decided to invest in the infrastructure that makes New York possible.\u201d<\/p>\n American cities should take heed of London\u2019s experience, suggests Michael Manville, a professor who chairs the urban planning department at UCLA.<\/p>\n While use of private cars there plummeted in the early years, traffic has essentially returned to pre-fee levels more than two decades on, he says.<\/p>\n That could be because the city has granted many exemptions \u2014 the city\u2019s famous black cabs, vehicles transporting people with disabilities and even electric vehicles don\u2019t pay the\u00a0roughly $19 fee<\/a>, according to Manville.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s always going to be carve-outs,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the further and further you start going down that road, there lies madness.\u201d<\/p>\n So far,\u00a0New York\u2019s plan<\/a>\u00a0includes exemptions for emergency vehicles, transit buses, certain vehicles carrying people with disabilities and specialized government vehicles. Low-income city residents also can qualify for a discounted rate and a tax credit.<\/p>\n Passengers using Uber<\/a>, Lyft<\/a> and other app-based rides in Manhattan would be assessed a $2.50 surcharge per trip, while taxis and black car riders would be taxed $1.25. Those fees, which would come on top of a\u00a0$2.75 congestion charge<\/a>\u00a0already imposed on for-hire rides in Manhattan, will be passed on to passengers, but will still hurt drivers if people forgo costlier rides into the city center, argues Raul Rivera of the driver advocacy group NYC Drivers Unite.<\/p>\n Trucks and for-profit buses, meanwhile, would pay stepped-up fees ranging from $24 to $36.<\/p>\n Congestion fees would be reduced during the quieter night hours, but would be in effect weekends.<\/p>\n John McCarthy, chief of policy at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which stands to benefit from the cash infusion, says the question is simply one of volume.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to reduce the number using cars if we are serious about dealing with the congestion that\u2019s clogging roads,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n No less than five lawsuits are attempting to block the fee, including\u00a0two legal challenges<\/a>\u00a0from neighboring New Jersey, where some\u00a010% of the state\u2019s workforce<\/a>\u00a0commutes into the city daily.<\/p>\n Richard Galler, a Fort Lee, New Jersey, resident and a plaintiff in one of the suits, said he fears vehicle pollution in his neighborhood will only get worse if drivers who would have entered Manhattan via two tunnels south of Central Park divert to the George Washington Bridge, which is located outside the proposed congestion zone.<\/p>\n Residents in some of the city\u2019s more far-flung corners have similar concerns.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s in it for us?\u201d said Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, a Republican leading another suit against the plan. \u201cYou\u2019re going to hurt our environment, make our traffic worse and expect us to pay for it?\u201d<\/p>\n People with disabilities worry their unique transportation needs will once more become an afterthought.<\/p>\n Jean Ryan, a Brooklyn resident who heads the group Disabled in Action, says the MTA\u2019s proposed exemption for disabled people is too restrictive. She\u2019s also skeptical the\u00a0transit windfall<\/a>\u00a0will truly be invested in elevator, ramp and other crucial accessibility improvements, as the MTA has promised.<\/p>\n \u201cMost disabled folks live on a very, very low income,\u201d she said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have wiggle room in their budget.\u201d<\/p>\n Manhattan business groups, meanwhile, hope authorities can pump the brakes while New York City continues recovering from the pandemic, which changed commuting patterns substantially as many office workers shifted permanently to working from home much of the time.<\/p>\n Cristyne Nicholas, who chairs the Broadway Association, said her group is especially concerned about the impact on night shift workers who must drive to Manhattan because of limited mass transit options in the early morning hours.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not the same New York City from five years ago,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are concerned that the proposed fee structure and hours will slow the recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n