Congestion Pricing in NY and DC

New York was recently offered $354 million dollars for it's congestion pricing scheme. Sort of. The city gets $1.6 million to study the plan and $10.4 million for implementation with the rest of the money going to New York State D.O.T., the M.T.A. and N.Y.C. D.O.T. to pay for improved transit. Implementing the congestion charge will cost around $230 million. The State of New York has until March to sign on to the plan. Still as the article notes

the substantial federal support for the project gives enormous leverage to the mayor as he continues to press for his proposal.

The $354 million is considerably less than the $536 million the Bloomberg administration had requested from the federal government, but it is well over the $200 million minimum federal commitment that the Legislature had set as a precondition for the 17-member commission to move forward.

Meanwhile, here in D.C. there is already a backlash.

The chorus of calls to forget about a congestion tax in the District is growing louder.

The American Automobile Association is the latest to weigh in on the idea.

The main argument - what about the tourists?

When told about the possible plan, Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-Va., shot it down.

"That is not a good idea," Wolf said. "Every day you walk across the Mall, you always see a mom a dad and a couple of kids, it's the first time they've come into the city. To put a tax on a driver for coming into D.C.? The District of Columbia is the Nation's Capital."

Rep. Wolf, they already pay a tax - several actually - on the gas and the car and their license and registration and parking. In addition they are welcome - encouraged even - to ride a bike, take metro or wait until rush hour is over. Besides, what portion of the fee payers will be tourists and what percentage of tourists park and drive downtown? It's disingenuous. Yes, D.C. is the Nation's Capital and it should be an example of what a post-peak-oil city should be. As CommuterPage Blog duly notes, congestion pricing isn't that radical an idea. Isn't a parking meter just a form of congestion pricing?

Limiting the use of a public good with a fee for the benefit of all is similar to the congestion charging schemes of today in practice in London and Stockholm, who charge a fee to enter downtown.

One might argue, Rep. Wolf, that charging for street use is capitalist in nature - free streets, hell, that's communism. Are you saying the Nation's Capital should be a bastion of communism. I'm shocked.

Congestion pricing in London, btw, caused bike use to go up 43%.

Comments

[Lee Watkins]

Congestion pricing also increased profits for downtown businesses, by up to a third in the studies (equivalent to the reduction in cars), because in a constrained road network fewer cars always equals more people, and more people equals more Dollars in the affected area. If NYC gets the chance to demonstrate this, then surely the word would spread via. merchant groups, etc. Surely some people will begin to understand this concept when they see their profits increase.

For some reason business groups always come down to insisting that fewer cars means lost business, but this is false.
People spend money, not cars. Removing cars from a constrained road system always increases the efficiency of that system, meaning the ability to move people at the expense of carrying fewer cars.

Fewer cars = more people = more dollars for downtown business, less congestion, less pollution, fewer accidents, less noise, etc. etc....

Oh, and most of the tourists I see are on tour buses, or rental bikes, or Segways, or standing to left on the metro escalator.
The average novice Midwestern tourist is absolutely terrified to drive a car in downtown DC. If anything, the reduction in cars would make for a happier experience for any tourists who would still adamantly insist on driving down to the mall.

[Chris L]

I lived in London the year the congestion charge took effect, and I literally saw the reduction in transit occur before my eyes. I have high hopes for NYC implementing a congestion charge...they are far more progressive than DC, and I don't know if it can ever happen here. I hope I am wrong.

[Chris L]

by "reduction in transit" I meant "reduction in traffic". Haven't had morning coffee yet.

[Michael Ross]

This commentary is particularly well written, and structured.

The upshot of the comments are predictable -- albeit sad. The attitudes and content that background the Representatives comments are what stand out as particularly distressing.

This culture breeds arrogance, particularly in males...Rep. Wolf is literally an idiot, much like Pres. Bush. The problem is that neither are insincere, and they, by all indications, really do want to make the country a better place.

The problem is they are spectacularly stunted by their lack of relevant content and experience. This prevents the development of the conceptual resources necessary to make better sense of the world.

And so on they go making these proclamations that are grounded by nothing but good will, and are laughable on their face!

Woe is us...and if you bicycle as a lifestyle choice, move to Europe.

[washcycle]

It's also possible that Rep. Wolf thinks he is looking out for his constituents who can be expected to have a higher tax to benefit ratio then people in DC, Alexandria or other close in areas.

[Murph]

AAA is the worst. Their lobbying power makes them one of the biggest impediments to sensible transit.

One counter to Wolf's argument is that tourists are already conditioned to avoid rush hour on transit by the 9:30 start of the all-day Metro pass. This didn't cripple the tourist industry. Doing the same thing during rush hour to autos would not be revolutionary for the tourists, but more likely for all the government and law firm workers used to driving in from the burbs to their tax-subsidized parking. Those are Wolf's constituents that he is "protecting."

[TheGreenMiles]

A congestion tax at peak rush hour is long overdue. We don't have a shortage of roads and bridges in the DC area -- it's that everyone tries to go into the city at 8:30am and everyone tries to leave the city at 5pm. Why not give people (and their bosses) a real, economic incentive to promote off-peak commuting or even telecommuting?