Skip to main content

New York gov: introduce Manhattan road pricing ‘or face 30% fare rise’

New York’s governor has suggested that unless some form of dynamic pricing is imposed on motorists in the city, there will be a 30% hike in public transit fares and tolls. Democrat Andrew Cuomo said the stiff Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) price rise would hit those using subways, buses, tunnels and bridges, Associated Press (AP) reports. He is calling for tolls which charge motorists entering the most congested areas of Manhattan – south of 60th Street – which he believes could raise $1
February 12, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

New York’s governor has suggested that unless some form of dynamic pricing is imposed on motorists in the city, there will be a 30% hike in public transit fares and tolls.

Democrat Andrew Cuomo said the stiff 1267 Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) price rise would hit those using subways, buses, tunnels and bridges, Associated Press (AP)%$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external reports. false https://apnews.com/7554fd0993c24a2eb5f3943a466bbb16 false false%>

He is calling for tolls which charge motorists entering the most congested areas of Manhattan – south of 60th Street – which he believes could raise $1 billion per year - and wants this approved by legislators by April as part of next year’s state budget.

A number of cities worldwide, such as Singapore, London and Stockholm, have introduced a congestion charge zone in their central areas – but the concept is widely resisted by city authorities which are conscious of the difficulties in selling it to their constituents.

“The real choice is between congestion pricing or a 30% toll and fare increase,” Cuomo said to a meeting of the Association for a Better New York. “It’s A or B because there is no C.”

Cuomo has not suggested what the tolls should be. AP says a fee of $12 per day has been mooted for motorists, but “officials have said they don’t expect the toll to be that expensive”.

The Partnership for New York City insists traffic congestion costs the region $20 billion per year and wants congestion pricing revenue to fund modernisation of subway, bus and commuter rail services.

Related Content

  • Self-driving bus collides with pedestrian in Vienna
    July 24, 2019
    A self-driving bus trial in the Austrian capital Vienna has been halted after a collision between a vehicle and pedestrian, says Bloomberg. Authorities are now investing the cause of the incident which led to minor injuries. According to Bloomberg, state broadcaster ORF says the Navya vehicle was driving at 7.5 miles per hour when it hit the 30-year-old woman in the knee. In a statement given to The Verge, Navya said witnesses had seen the pedestrian wearing headphones and looking at a mobile phon
  • Waymo trials commercial driverless taxi service in Phoenix, Arizona
    December 10, 2018
    Waymo has launched a driverless taxi service in Phoenix, Arizona, where riders will be charged for the journeys they take. In a blog post, CEO John Krafcik says the commercial self-driving service – called Waymo One - is available to early riders who have already been using Waymo’s technology. The company hopes to make the service available to more members of the public as it adds more vehicles and drives in more places, he writes. “Self-driving technology is new to many, so we’re proceeding carefully wi
  • London ‘should emulate New York’ to reduce congestion, says Karhoo
    December 21, 2018
    London could reduce congestion by emulating New York when it comes to open data, claims technology firm Karhoo. New York has publicly-available anonymised TPEP/LPEP75 data which allowed Karhoo to assess the impact of taxi and private hire (PH) movements on traffic flow, congestion and pollution, the company says. It adds that if Transport for London (TfL) were to follow suit, it “would be quick and relatively low-cost given that almost every licenced vehicle is connected to tracking systems already”. Tf
  • MaaS Market London: Top names debate local authorities’ digital dilemma
    January 16, 2019
    Key players in the transport sector will debate the challenges faced by local authorities worldwide from new digitised platforms such as Mobility as a Service (MaaS) in a dedicated session at ITS International’s 2019 MaaS Market Conference in London this March. Taxi-hailing apps have already demonstrated the disruptive nature of new digitised transport services. As a result, some local authorities have struggled to retain control over issues such as traffic management and the vetting of taxi drivers and