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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • European Start-up Prize for Mobility reveals first 150 projects
    February 11, 2019
    The European Start-up Prize for Mobility has whittled down 568 entrants to 150 projects. These will go on to the next stage of the competition – the second year that the accelerator programme for sustainable mobility options has been run – when their number will be reduced to 50 later this month. The organisers say more established start-ups have entered this time, with 58% in business for more than three years, and an average of 14 employees. “This is partly explained by the maturing and expansion
  • HART uses Init’s e-fare system for buses in Hawaii
    January 2, 2019
    The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) in Hawaii is trialing Holo Card, an account-based electronic fare system from Init, over a three-month period. It will then be made available on all buses owned by Oahu Transit Services. The e-fare system will allow passengers using Oahu’s TheBus service to load passes or add value via their mobile device on route to board a bus or by visiting a local retail outlet. This project stems from an agreement with the City and County of Honolulu Department
  • CTS extends contactless payments to Sydney's trains
    November 28, 2018
    Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) is extending Sydney’s contactless payment system beyond light rail and ferries to include the Australian city’s train network. The technology allows commuters to pay for ticketing via credit cards, smart watches and other electronic devices, alongside the Opal card. CTS’s Asia-Pacific team and Transport for New South Wales initially made the contactless system available for the city’s Manly ferry service in 2017. In March this year, the contactless system was ext
  • C-roads will soon be ‘a reality’
    March 9, 2018
    Cross-border C-ITS-enabled roads (C-roads) will start becoming a reality in 2019, with safety as the driver, according to AustriaTech/ITS Austria's Martin Bohm. He made the comment during a recent Brussels workshop run by the European ITS and C-roads platforms to assess results of road corridor pilots. The latter is a joint initiative by EU member states and road operators to test and implement C-ITS services for universal harmonisation and interoperability. We can, he continued, deploy systems