Kheel-Komanoff Congestion Pricing

Newly updated plan to close the MTA's budget defecit as well as create a more cyclist/pedestrian friendly Manhattan. You can read Charles Komanoff's proposal here.

Free buses and reduced fares on the subway are definitely welcome, but I wonder how feasible this is politically. And while I realize that most congestion in the downtown areas are caused by trucks (and therefore deserving of higher tax rates), I wonder how much this will raise the cost of doing business in New York, especially for small business owners who might get hurt by higher delivery and shipping costs.

How much more appealing is this plan than the one recently proposed by Bloomberg (and subsequently rejected)? 

A new toll on car and truck trips into Manhattan's Central Business District (CBD), ranging from $2 to $10 for cars, depending on time of day and day of week. Trucks -- bigger and more polluting than cars -- will pay double.Revenues, after netting tolling costs: $1,230 million.

A surcharge on medallion taxi fares. To ensure that Manhattan residents, who drive across the CBD line relatively little but use taxis regularly, pay their fare share, we hike taxi fares by a third and allocate the proceeds to transit. Revenues: $440 million.

Smart transit fares. We eliminate subway fares at night and on weekends, reduce them except during the a.m. and p.m. peaks, and abolish bus fares altogether. Benefits include a 15-20 percent speedup of local bus service from eliminating queuing to pay fares, less rush-hour crowding as some subway trips time-shift out of the peak, and higher overall transit usage.Cost: $1,610 million.

A hike in non-Manhattan bridge tolls. While not primarily a traffic-reduction measure, a 20 percent rise in tolls on outlying New York City bridges will raise $170 million and pay for elimination of all fares on intracity express bus and commuter rail service.

Comments

[Vernon Malcolm]

Inspect away Congestion! The city should toughen inspections for medical, psychiatric and vehicle reasons to cut down the number of congestion. This way, we will also get the voters against congestion pricing, who live in Bayside and Staten Island, to move away. Free health care means psychiatric care for all those angry talk radio white males!