Skip to main content

New York mayor urged to consider tolling to reduce city congestion

The de Blasio administration this week unveiled plans to tackle the New York's congestion crisis. Several of the new initiatives rely on enforcement, such as offences like the blocking of yellow boxes, blocking of bike and bus lanes and double parking. Other strategies revolve around managing curb space.
June 7, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The de Blasio administration this week unveiled plans to tackle the New York's congestion crisis. Several of the new initiatives rely on enforcement, such as offences like the blocking of yellow boxes, blocking of bike and bus lanes and double parking. Other strategies revolve around managing curb space.


However, City Council members maintained that anything short of congestion pricing that would de-incentivise driving wouldn’t make much of a difference.

Advocacy group MoveNY, which has consistently lobbied for congestion pricing, has again suggested that the city impose a congestion charge on motorists driving on Manhattan’s most crowded streets.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the city would impose a US$2.75 fee on cars entering Manhattan’s central business district south of 60th Street. Trucks would pay a higher fee, while taxis and other for-hire vehicles would pay a congestion surcharge based on travel within the zone.

If this came to pass, the group says, “New York City could raise about US$1 billion a year through the plan, which could pay for improvements to roads and bridges, as well as subsidise MetroCards for low-income households and improve bus service.”

Several council members have expressed their approval of the MoveNY proposal, but early indications are that de Blasio will not take the plan into consideration, says Curbed New York.

Related Content

  • July 18, 2012
    Florida's high occupancy tolling success in reducing congestion
    TransCore's David Sparks writes about the development of 95 Express, Florida Department of Transportation's new high-occupancy tolling facility. High-Occupancy Tolling (HOT) lanes are one of the most compelling uses of existing transportation infrastructure to expand capacity, particularly in major metropolitan areas which have limited right of way but need to relieve congestion. According to the Federal Highway Administration, while vehicle miles travelled have increased over 70 per cent in the past 20 yea
  • November 27, 2013
    EU rules extend the ‘long arm of the law’
    New EU legislation allows authorities to collect fines from errant foreign motorists even after they have returned to their own country. New European Union legislation means drivers in many Member States can be prosecuted for breaking traffic laws when driving outside their home country. While not all the Member States will not be signing up to Directive 2011/82/EU facilitating the cross-border exchange of information on road safety related traffic offences, for those that do the deadline date to impleme
  • August 15, 2017
    Tolling is a ‘powerful tool to maintain and manage an infrastructure network’
    Officials have recently moved to scrap tolls on several highways for the first time in 40 years, bucking a national trend toward more tolls on mostly urban roadways to shift the costs of transportation to those who use the roads, writes Associated Press. A regional authority voted this week to eliminate tolls on the Cesar Chavez Border Highway in El Paso. On the same day, Dallas city council rejected plans to build a toll road along the Trinity River. The council's action appears to be the death knell for a
  • July 4, 2019
    CurbFlow looks at PUDO in Washington, DC
    The District Department of Transportation (DDoT) in Washington, DC is working with CurbFlow to carry out the next phase of its kerbside pick-up and drop-off (PUDO) programme. DDoT says the programme allocates kerbside space for PUDO activities, allowing passenger and commercial loading to occur at the kerb and out of travel lanes. Jeff Marootian, DDoT director, says: “By exploring new kerbside management options through this partnership with CurbFlow, DDoT is able to keep traffic flowing, maximise effic