Rumor has it that Manhatten is about to take a page from London’s play book and enact a “congestion tax,” a fee to drive or park inside of the city/district environs.
This weekend Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to introduce an $8 congestion fee for drivers who enter Manhattan below 86th Street.
On the city’s traffic-clogged arteries Friday, Bloomberg was not a popular guy. “Next thing he’s gonna charge us to cross the street,” one driver said.
Complaints like those echoed among drivers who’d heard that the mayor is about to propose tolls for vehicles entering Midtown Manhattan.
A mayoral panel has proposed charging motorists to enter Manhattan below 86th Street from 6 am to 6 p.m.
I recall, from my last Britain expedition, very shortly after the London congestion zone was enacted, being more than a scosh dismayed by the prospect of inadvertently driving into the tax zone (and going round and round a particular roundabout to avoid it). I recall thinking that such a thing would be unthinkable/undoable in the States ….
Still, it seems as good a tool as any to address excessive traffic and the costs it incurs. Though, of course, opinions of actual New Yorkers are welcome …
Later in that article, Bloomberg gives his agenda for the rest of his term, which includes buildling 250,000 new homes. And where does he suppose those folks will be going each day? If even 25% end up working in Manhattan, that’s 6250 cars that my want to enter the city. Does that make sense to any one but a politician?
Also, I’d bee curious who is driving into the city, and how many might be stopped by the fee as opposed to just add it to the cost of their trip. How many of the cars in the city are “working” cars as opposed to commuters. I’ve been to Manhattan a few times, and I can’t understand why anyone whould choose to drive in the city.
And by the way, entering below 86th, does not just affect Midtown, thats half of the island.