Skip to main content

New Yorkers split on congestion pricing, tolling plan

In a recently published Quinnipiac University poll, 49 per cent of voters on New York opposed a proposal to toll the East River bridges and at the same time reduce tolls on the ‘outer borough’ bridges between the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island and use the money for mass transit. Forty-four per cent backed the plan. Opposition to just setting tolls on the free East River bridges remains strong at 69 per cent, with just 27 per cent in favour, the independent poll finds. There is no group that co
May 18, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
In a recently published Quinnipiac University poll, 49 per cent of voters on New York opposed a proposal to toll the East River bridges and at the same time reduce tolls on the ‘outer borough’ bridges between the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island and use the money for mass transit. Forty-four per cent backed the plan.

Opposition to just setting tolls on the free East River bridges remains strong at 69 per cent, with just 27 per cent in favour, the independent poll finds. There is no group that comes close to 50 per cent support for tolls, except Staten Island at 43 per cent.

"East River bridge tolls? New Yorkers have been saying no for years," said Quinnipiac University Poll assistant director Maurice Carroll. "But the people pushing the idea this time are savvy. They'd marry new tolls to toll reductions elsewhere. And they tie it to mass transit improvements. In response to that idea, the level of opposition shrinks.

"Whatever their views on what should be done, 88 per cent of voters agree that traffic congestion is a serious problem."

Related Content

  • Auckland considers road user charging to plug funding shortfall
    October 29, 2014
    Auckland, New Zealand, faces a US$9.5 billion transport funding gap to build the fully-integrated transport network set out in the 30-year Auckland Plan that includes new roads, rail, ferries, busways, cycle-ways and supporting infrastructure needed to cope with a population set to hit 2.5 million in the next three decades. If Auckland opts to pay for the fully-integrated Auckland Plan, Auckland Council officials claim the transport network congestion is expected to improve by 20 per cent over the next 1
  • IBTTA 2011 Annual Meeting highlights developing trends in tolling
    January 26, 2012
    Alain Estiot, chief meeting organiser of this year's IBTTA Annual Meeting and Exhibition, talks about hot topics for discussion. The IBTTA's 79th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, which takes place this year in Berlin in September, will once again take many of the developing trends from around the world and look at their effects on the tolling sector. Host organisation Toll Collect's Alain Estiot, chief meeting organiser, says that the event has to be viewed against a backdrop of major global change.
  • Positive incentives an alternative to road user charging?
    February 1, 2012
    The Netherlands has been looking at incentivising rush-hour avoidance. The intention is to better understand road users' motivations and find alternatives to congestion charging. Something significant needs to happen if we are to adequately address the traffic congestion and other issues caused by the ever-rising numbers of vehicles on our roads. Congestion or distance-based charging is seen as one way of managing demand and raising revenue for improvements to transport infrastructure. However, charging is
  • Rapid growth makes Texas an incubator for tolling innovation
    September 8, 2014
    As the IBTTA’s annual meeting and exhibition heads for Austin, Mitchell Beer, president of Smarter Shift, considers the role of Texas in the development of tolling strategies and technology. The State of Texas has always prided itself on being ‘larger than life’. From the sprawling geography of the state itself with its wide open skies, to its entrepreneurial ‘get-it-done’ attitude, Texas exudes an impatient restlessness that pushes businesses and public agencies to deliver faster, better results. More ofte